Handley boys pull away to romp against James Wood

By WALT MOODY | The Winchester Star

Jan 23, 2018

WINCHESTER — Handley’s Kevin Curry had a lot of time to think about what kind of dunk he was going to attempt after intercepting a pass at midcourt against James Wood on Monday.

Curry said he had only one thought: “I was just thinking I did not want to miss.”

He did not, throwing down a two-handed slam that triggered the start of a tidal wave that consumed the Colonels in the second quarter. The Judges outscored the Colonels 30-6 in the period and cruised to a 77-24 Northwestern District boys’ basketball romp at Maddex-Omps Gymnasium.

Handley (13-3 overall, 6-0 district) came into the contest smarting from a five-point loss against Spotswood on Friday. The Judges immediately spent Saturday afternoon studying the film of that loss.

“We wanted to bounce back,” Handley coach Jason Toton said. “I told them tonight before the game, ‘I don’t think we’ve played well the last three or four games.’ With the second half of the season starting up and we’re getting ready to play everybody once again, the season is almost over and we’ve got to start jacking it up again.”

But the Judges started slowly, turning the ball over five times out of the gate. They led the Colonels (6-11, 0-7) just 6-4 midway through the period.

They started to turn things around and led 14-6 before exploding in the second quarter as Curry’s dunk opened the scoring. Knowing the high-flying 6-foot-2 junior can sky, the crowd eagerly awaited what Curry would throw down. His two-hander with authority not only send the Handley faithful into a frenzy, but pumped up his teammates.

“I think that brings a lot of energy to the team,” said Judges guard Keevon Martin. “It changed our energy toward the game and brought us up.”

“They amp up off of it,” Toton said. “It gets them going. I don’t mind it. They just have got to stay focused after it happens and knowing what we’re doing defensively. We can’t let our emotions get the best of us.”

Curry took care of a lot of the defense, too, matching up against James Wood’s Cam Firebaugh, who came in averaging nearly 20 points per game. Firebaugh had just one basket on eight attempts in the half and finished with eight points.

“We knew coming in the kid could stroke it a little bit,” Toton said. “I thought Kevin did a pretty good job of keeping a hand in his face.”

“I took it as a big challenge,” Curry said. “He’s a good player. I felt like that’s their best player and he’s scored most of their points. If we stopped him, it should be an easy game.”

It sure got easy in that quarter. Curry had seven points and controlled the offensive glass as the Judges opened the period on an 18-2 run. And after forcing two more of James Wood’s 15 first-half turnovers, Michael Brown sent the crowd into another frenzy.

First, the 5-foot-8 point guard picked off an errant pass and threw down a two-handed slam. On the very next play, Sam Wise picked off a pass and fed Brown for a spectacular one-handed, alley-oop slam that made it 43-12. The Judges led 44-12 at the break.

James Wood coach Tim Wygant said the contest got away from his team, but pointed back to the first quarter.

“Their pressure was taking advantage of that we weren’t making many shots,” Wygant said. “In the first quarter, I didn’t have us for too many turnovers. We just weren’t making shots. We started pressing a little bit and they ramped up their fullcourt and halfcourt pressure and that’s when it kind of got out of hand. That all being said if a couple of those shots go in the first quarter, I’m not saying that the end result is different, but I am saying the second quarter is different.”

The third quarter did not have any dunks, but the Judges kept extending the lead.

Martin, one of the area’s top 3-point shooters last season who had been struggling to find the mark, got Handley off to a good start by nailing a pair from long distance as he scored the Judges’ first eight points of the half.

“When he’s hitting threes, that’s when we’re at our best,” said Curry, who finished with 14 points. “When everybody is hitting our shots, that’s when we’re at our best. He hasn’t been hitting like he wants to, but tonight he showed up and he looked good.”

“It’s good to finally hit some and get back into a rhythm,” said Martin, who had three 3-pointers and led the Judges with 15 points. “Hopefully this will be a start going into the other games leading on to the end of the season.”

And the Judges, a Class 4 semifinalist last season, are thinking about goals as the regular season winds down.

“They understand we can’t afford too many losses from here on out if we want to accomplish some of the goals we want down the road,” Toton said.

“We definitely see ourselves winning the state championship,” Curry said. “That’s our goal.”

Brown added 12 points for the Judges, who had 10 different players score.

Bennett Smith and Firebaugh led the Colonels with eight points each.

Wygant expected his top scorer and his teammates to learn from facing the Judges.

“It’s always good to play against better competition, but that goes up-and-down the roster,” Wygant said. “All of the guys need to play against better competition and that’s the best competition we’ve played all year. Even in a loss, we can look at things to get better. Clearly there are things we need to work on in practice the next couple of days to get ready for Sherando on Friday.”

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