Sherando boys turn up heat in win over James Wood

By JIM LAISE | Special to The Winchester Star

Jan 4, 2018

WINCHESTER — Sherando High School’s boys’ basketball team forced cross-county rival James Wood into some early mistakes and then continued its ball-hawking — and layup conversions — for the remainder of the game to post an 84-52 victory over the Colonels at Donald H. Shirley Gymnasium on Wednesday night.

The victory was just the second of the season for the Warriors (2-7) and marked their first Class 4 Northwestern District victory in three tries. James Wood dropped to 5-7 overall and 0-2 in the district.

“Tonight, it was just a matter of getting out and running,” said Warriors coach Garland Williams. “Tonight, we ran well and made some shots. Before, we had them and missed them.

“We didn’t miss as many as we have in previous games. Against Liberty (a 78-59 loss on Dec. 22) and Spotswood (a 73-53 defeat on Dec. 27) we got out and ran, but we didn’t make shots. We made some layups and did some other things that worked better tonight.”

One of those “things” was pressure defense.

The Warriors held a slim 8-7 lead in the first quarter when Williams dialed up some fullcourt tactics.

With Matthew McKay, Aaron Banks and Tad Dean applying pressure, the Warriors took that lead and expanded it. Steals and layups led to an 11-2 Sherando run which gave the Warriors a 21-11 after one quarter.

“It was nothing special, we were just ready to get some hands on balls and convert” Williams said. “It wasn’t anything particularly that we set up, but it was just a matter of our guys getting into lanes, hustling and working for the basket on the other end.”

“We just used our athleticism,” said Banks, who is headed to the University of Richmond to play football. “That led to some scoring. When we can run and score, that’s important.”

James Wood reduced the Sherando lead to 23-15 with 6:36 remaining in the second quarter, but that was as close as it would come.

Will Hall put the Warriors up again, 25-15, and then George Gibson made two twisting layups for a 29-15 lead with 4:50 left in the half. A jumper by Banks made it 32-17 and then a Michael Perry layup at the end of the frame made it 37-21 Sherando.

The Warriors then outscored the Colonels 31-19 in the third quarter and then led by 66-38 with just seconds to go in the period.

“I was very surprised,” James Wood coach Tim Wygant said. “The way we came back and practiced and the way we warmed up tonight, I thought we were ready. Maybe we were over ready. Sherando made shots tonight and we didn’t. That pretty much says it.”

The Colonels committed 19 turnovers and were 15-of-52 from the floor.

“If you don’t stop them from scoring and you can’t score yourself, you’re pretty much in trouble,” Wygant said. “That’s what seemed to happen tonight.”

Banks led Sherando with 18 points. McKay added 14 and Dean had 12.

James Wood’s Cam Firebaugh led all scorers with 23 points, going 13 of 14 from the line. As a team, Wood was good on 17 of 20 at the charity stripe.

Note: The James Wood boys’ and girls’ varsity and JV basketball teams are participating this week in the The Coaches vs. Cancer 3-Point Challenge to benefit the American Cancer Society. Fans can donate for every three-point shot their team makes toward the charity. For more information or to make a pledge log go to the website www.3pointchallenge.org.