Millbrook boys pull away against James Wood

Millbrook closed the half on a 15-2 run for a 14-point halftime lead (40-26) and never looked back in coasting to a 81-53 Class 4 Northwestern District victory over the Colonels on senior night at Millbrook High School Friday night.

For 13 minutes James Wood went toe-to-toe with Millbrook (17-4, 9-2 district)) and trailed by just one point, 25-24 with just over three minutes left in the first half.

“I thought we got great energy on the defensive end right there right before the half and extended the lead out,” Millbrook coach Rob Harris said. “I thought that really helped us and gave us momentum going into the third quarter. We played much better in the second half. Defensively we started doing a better job of clearing the boards and getting out and running which is the way we like to play.

“I think our young men understand the magnitude of how we have to play. We’re playing at a high level, our entire team feels very good about where we are right now. We have to go back to work next week so we can iron out a few fundamental things. We are going to go into the tournament just as hot as anybody else and the tournament is great because at that time it’s wide open.”

Making 52 percent of your shots will win you a lot of games, and that’s exactly what the Pioneers shot Friday night (30 of 57). They were a breathtaking 60 percent (27 of 45) on two-point field goal attempts.

James Wood (6-14, 0-10) opened the scoring on an offensive putback by freshman Ben Smith. It was its only lead of the night.

Millbrook scored the next four points for its first lead of the night before the Colonels tied it at 4-4 on a short jumper by Jackson Lynch.

The Pioneers tried to pull away with an 8-2 run to grab a 12-6 lead but the pesky Colonels wouldn’t go away and finished the first quarter on a 5-0 run to close to within 12-11 at the end of the first quarter.

Each time the Pioneers started to pull away and appeared to be taking control of the game the Colonels responded. Early in the second quarter Wood erased a five-point deficit with a 5-2 run.

Millbrook scored five straight, all by senior Jordan Funk, for a 25-18 lead with 5:22 left in the first half. But again Wood fought right back and scored six straight points to trim the lead to 25-24 with 3:45 left in the half.

At that point the Pioneers clicked. Funk buried a 3-pointer and jumpstarted Millbrook on both sides of the floor in a 6-0 run that recaptured the seven-point advantage (31-24).

Smith briefly stopped the run with a basket in the paint Wood to make it 31-26, but the Pioneers took advantage of several Colonels missed shots and turnovers over the last 1:33 of the half and finished the second on a 9-0 run and went into the break with a 40-26 cushion.

“That’s what they thrive on, not only are they a good half court offensive team but they are very good transition defense and offense,” James Wood coach Tim Wygant said. “We kind of got out of the things we did that worked and we got impatient at the end of the second quarter.

“We need to be able to slow the game down and dictate tempo and we did that in the first quarter. The kids are working hard and that’s the main thing. We give effort. They don’t take any plays off. Our effort is definitely there, we just need to start putting the ball in the basket a little bit more. We are definitely playing better now then the beginning of the year.”

Another extended offensive drought in the middle of the third quarter spelled doom for the Colonels. Already trailing 42-30 they didn’t score for a four-minute stretch in the third quarter and the Pioneers took full advantage.

During that time five different Pioneers scored and Millbrook scored 14 unanswered points and pushed the lead to 56-30 with 3:20 left in the third quarter. Millbrook would outscore Wood 26-4 in the third quarter and take a 31-point advantage into the final eight minutes of play.

Funk led four Pioneers in double figures with a game-high 19 points. Jalen Tyson and Trammell Anthony added 13 and 11 points respectively and Issac Brown chipped in with 10. Smith and Cameron Firebaugh led the way for James Wood with 17 points each. Nick Cardinale added seven.

Both teams close out regular season play next week with home games. Millbrook hosts Liberty Friday while Wood will host Fauquier on Tuesday and district champion Handley on Friday.