James Wood’s Defense Stymies Clarke County In Boys’ Basketball Romp

Posted: January 19, 2016
By JERRY HOLSWORTH
Special to The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — James Wood relied on an aggressive full court press early to unnerve Clarke County in boys’ basketball action on Monday.

The Eagles committed eight first-quarter turnovers and managed just nine shots from the field as the Colonels rolled to a 21-10 lead on the way to a 67-43 romp.

While the Eagles were struggling to get the ball across midcourt, the Colonels (10-5) got superb offensive performances from Andrew Hinebaugh, Chandler Brooks and Robert Jackson to take a 17-6 lead with 1:20 left in the period.

“I thought that the press early in the game really unnerved them,” Wood coach Tim Wygant said. “The press isn’t really designed to cause turnovers as much as it helps disrupt their tempo. I think that it really worked well. Our kids are becoming more comfortable playing at a high pace, and I thought that it was very effective tonight.”

Brooks and Jackson had five points each in the first quarter, while Hinebaugh added four. The trio also made all six of their free-throw attempts.

Reeling from the early barrage on both ends of the floor by the Colonels, Clarke County rallied in the second period. A 3-pointer by Jordon Turner narrowed the Wood lead to nine (29-20) with 4:22 left in the half, and the Eagles were able to reduce the Colonel lead to eight, 31-23 with 3:04 before halftime.

The Eagles (2-11) might have cut Wood’s lead even more, but Clarke County managed just 3-of-7 from the line in the first half.

“You have to give a lot of credit to Clarke County,” Wygant said. “They fought like crazy in the second quarter, and were able to really cut into our lead. ... We got caught watching a little bit in the second quarter, and that’s when they were able to get on a little bit of run. That was disappointing. But, I thought that we focused at halftime and really got after them in the third quarter.”

The Colonels came out for the second half and reasserted their dominance. Wood began with an 8-0 run to make it 44-27. Guard Aidan Houser was Wood’s primary weapon during the run, hitting back-to-back 3-pointers.

“I thought that we really locked down on them on defense in the third quarter, and didn’t give them a lot of second shots,” Wygant said. “I thought that made a big difference.”

The Colonels were even more impressive on defense, holding Clarke County to just 2-of-12 during the period, and outscoring them 21-5. Besides Houser, Brooks and Samuel Costin made critical contributions to Wood’s offense during the quarter.

Brooks, who played a major role in helping the Colonels keep pace with six points in the second quarter added another four in the third and finished with a game-high 18 points.

Costin scored four of his six points during the period.

With Wood cruising with a 57-32 lead heading into the final eight minutes of play, both teams emptied their benches.

The result was eight minutes of extremely intense basketball.

Turnovers were the main attraction as both defenses dominated play. Wood committed eight turnovers during the period, and Clarke County had nine.

Julius Grant led the Eagles with 13 points. Hayden Good scored seven points and William Holinger had six.

“We turned the ball over at a rapid rate, and we shot three out of nine from the foul line,” Eagles coach Brent Emmart said of the eving. “That’s a recipe for disaster. We had 40 turnovers tonight. I have to do a better job of coaching, and the players have to do a better job of executing.”

Besides Brooks, Houser also scored in double figures for Wood with 12 and Robert Jackson had nine.