Boys' basketball preview: Handley still seen as district favorite

Handley came within a couple of seconds and one point of winning the Class 4 state title last season, eventually falling 72-66 in double overtime against Lake Taylor in March.

The Judges lost three starters from that squad including point guard Michael Brown, a two-time Winchester Star Player of the Year, and forward Gus Wise. Both are on college rosters this winter.

While Handley coach Jason Toton may think another rival is the team to beat in the Northwestern District this season, his peers beg to differ.

Toton points to Millbrook, which finished second to the Judges in the district race last season, as the preseason favorite.

“I would say Millbrook is probably the target to beat this year in the district with the guys they have got returning,” Toton said. “I hope the target is not on our back because I’m tired of being there, but that’s a good problem to have though.”

The Judges’ opponents aren’t so ready to remove that bull’s-eye.

“I think they are still the team to beat,” said Millbrook coach Rob Harris, whose Pioneers suffered half of their six losses last season to the Judges. “They have got some very good units returning and Coach Toton has done a very good job that he has built a culture that there’s an expectation of winning.

“We have that same type of culture, but he has some pieces that are coming off of some championship caliber wins. We are trying to make sure we get up to that experience level … but at the end of the day I think Handley is still the cream of the crop and everybody will be shooting for them.”

“They look strong with their two inside guys,” Sherando coach Garland Williams said of Handley’s Kevin Curry and D’Andre James. “I picture them as a frontrunner along with Fauquier, who had a good shooting team last year. Kettle Run looks pretty strong because they had some young guys from last year and we hope to be in the middle of the pack and maybe surprise some people. We’ll be competitive in games.

“Handley has a strong group, but they’re definitely not as strong as last year,” Williams added. “Hopefully, we will be a little closer to them than we have been in the past.”

“I think they are going to be very good because they are always able to rebound fairly quickly,” James Wood’s Tim Wygant said of the Judges. “Coach Toton does a good job over there preparing those kids. I think they will be fine. I do think the district in general has more parity this year. The lines have been blurred. … Sherando has gotten more experience. … Millbrook, I think they athletically should be on par with Handley. I know we fit in there somewhere.”

Opponents are wary of the Judges (currently 2-0) thanks to the core of players they return.

Curry, a 6-foot-2 forward, plays several inches taller thanks to unbelievable leaping ability. Curry, who averaged 9.6 points and 2.3 steals last season, often provides a highlight reel dunk in games. He’s not all flash as he usually guards the opponent’s top player. He shot 58 percent from the floor last year.

Forward James, another football standout, does the garbage work around the basket, shooting an area-best 64 percent from the floor last season. He scored 22 points in the Judges’ season-opening win over Warren County.

“They really haven’t missed a beat from where they were last year,” Toton said of the two seniors. “Kevin is shooting the ball pretty well, actually better probably now. I think he worked on it over the summer. … Kevin has natural ability. He’s just a freak athlete.

“D’Andre, I call him the old school, kind of Charles Barkley player. He’s undersized, but he gets the job done rebounding, getting to the basket and scoring. He does a lot of good things.”

Guards Tyson Long and Sam Wise saw extensive time off the bench last season. Wise will take over at the point for the Judges and opened the season with a career-high 19 points against Warren County.

But aside from those four, the rest of the Judges have not seen meaningful varsity experience.

“We have three other seniors who didn’t play much last year,” Toton said. “We’re hoping they can kind of fill in some. I have two juniors and three sophomores. I have one sophomore Demitri Gardner who has been doing pretty well.

“We’ve got a solid group of kids. Some of them have got to get varsity experience and learn what it is all about at the varsity level. I think it’s going to take us some games early on.”

Millbrook also lost a lot of its punch from last season. The Pioneers graduated three starters, including their top two scorers, and their top reserve.

Harris is looking to build upon a 20-6 season and likes the future.

“I like where we’re headed,” said Harris, whose team is off to a 3-0 start. “I know it’s going to be a process. We have talked about how we were a veteran team last year, but with the new faces we’ve brought up from JV we are going to be a work in progress.”

The Pioneers do return several key players. Guards Jordan Jackson and Noah Thomas saw extensive action and are excellent in pushing the pace both offensively and defensively. Jalen Tyson, at 6-6, is an intimidating presence in the paint and he shot 59 percent from the floor last season. Forward Haden Madagan also plays a key role.

Harris said those four seniors are important for his young club.

“Not only are they taking the leadership reigns from the style of play, but it’s very different when you are are playing for me,” Harris said. “Those young men have been through me already one year. They understand I have demands and expectations and it’s a little bit different. They are actually helping me with those new faces and bring them into the fold and how we want to play and the process that we continuously need to develop every day.”

Sherando couldn’t practice very much at the start of the season, since seven of the 11 players on the roster were members of the Warriors football team that advanced to the Region 4C title game.

George Gibson, one of the four non-football players, is the top returning scorer (10.3). Football players Keli Lawson, T.J. Washington and Chacai Campbell are expected to help with the scoring.

Williams, whose team opened its season Wednesday, likes the athleticism of his group, which opened the season a week later than most teams.

“Hopefully we will be able to play some tight defense and be able to push the ball up the court,” Williams said. “We feel like we have some big guys on the inside and maybe they can do some scoring for us.”

Williams says the key is patience.

“These first eight to nine games, especially in December, we’re looking to get everyone coordinated as far as how we want them to play,” he said. “We want them to try to have good shot selection and try to reduce the turnovers as much as possible.”

James Wood has the most roster turnover of any local school. The Colonels (currently 0-2) return just two players last season’s squad and only Ben Smith saw significant action.

“We have a lot of new faces,” Wygant said. “I don’t want to say we had to hit the reset button, but we have a lot of sophomores. Of the 22 kids we have in the program right now, 21 of them could actually play JV because they are juniors and younger. We have one senior [Brian Harlow] in the program. … Experience wise, they’re not there. But what they’re lacking in experience, they’re making up for with a lot of energy and hustle. And, they are sponges, which is really nice.”

Wygant expects Smith and sophomore Quinton Thacker to lead the offense.

“Ben is going to do well,” Wygant said. “He’s going to be on the floor a lot.”

Clarke County coach Brent Emmart likes what he sees so far from the Eagles, who are 2-1 so far.

“We have great team chemistry right now,” he said after a 43-point win over James Wood last week. “The guys share the ball and hit the open man.”

Emmart expects the road to be rough in the Bull Run District. Last season, Central advanced to the Class 2 semifinals.

“George Mason and Central will be very good,” Emmart said. “Strasburg has two got two [JV] transfers from Sherando so they will be very good. It’s going to be a tough district this year.”

The Eagles return senior guard Dakota McCaw, who averaged 11.2 points last season. Volkan Ergen (9.8 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.3 blocks) provides an inside pretense and Colby Childs (9.7 points) can knock down the outside shot.

Emmart expects much from McCaw, who can score and create for others. McCaw has 11 assists in the Eagles’ two wins this season.

“He’s a senior,” Emmart said. “He’s gotten stronger. He shoots the ball well. He passes the ball. He dribbles the ball well. Overall, he’s one of my best players. As a senior captain, it’s kind of expected that he kind of steps up and does that.”

Handley

Coach: Jason Toton, sixth season

Last year: 25-4 overall, 12-0 Class 4 Northwestern District. Class 4 runner-up, Region 4C champion, Northwestern District regular season and tournament champion.

Key losses: Michael Brown, Gus Wise, Ra’Shaad Morris, Colin Smith, Keevon Martin

Key returnees: Kevin Curry, Sr., guard; D’Andre James, Sr., forward; Tyson Long, Sr., guard; Sam Wise, Sr., guard

Key newcomers: Demitri Gardner, So., guard; Nick Hott, Jr., forward; Troy Thompson, Sr., center; Jadie Lawrence, Sr., guard

Toton’s outlook: “We might take some lumps early. It will be a learning curve figuring things out offensively and defensively. I’m hoping we get better game-by-game and we can compete for a district title. I’d like to think we could make a run there in the regionals and see where it goes from there. If we can get some guys filling in and doing their roles, I like our chances this year. A lot of people or going to count us out because of who we lost — Mike Brown and Gus Wise. I’m hoping teams will take us a little bit lighter than what they think and that we’re not going to be all of that and maybe we can surprise some people.”

Next game: Today at Liberty

Millbrook

Coach: Rob Harris, second season

Last year: 20-6 overall, 10-2 Class 4 Northwestern District. Region 4C semifinalist, district runner-up.

Key losses: Jordan Funk, Trammel Anthony, Ben Curtin, Isaac Brown

Key returning players: Jalen Tyson, Sr., center; Jordan Jackson, Jr., guard; Noah Thomas, Sr., guard; Haden Madagan, Sr., forward

Key newcomers: Tyson Stewart, Jr., guard; Julien Hagerman, Jr., guard; Michael Robertson, Jr., forward.

Harris’ outlook: “We have to continue to develop. Every day, every step, every game has got to be a development process. We talk about those things every single day — how do we get better. For us, the young men in the program take pride in the pride in the program in terms of how we develop and how we play in each and every game and every day in practice. My prediction for us is that we might not be the same team we are today. We want to continuously improve, improve, improve. We want to win games along the way. That is the expectation for us and we honor and embrace that. It’s going to be a challenge and our schedule is very difficult. “

Next game: Friday at Skyline

Sherando

Coach: Garland Williams, 22nd season

Last year: 12-12 overall, 6-6 Class 4 Northwestern District

Key losses: Tad Dean, Matt McKay, Aaron Banks, Michael Perry

Key returning players: George Gibson, Sr., guard; Keli Lawson, So., guard; Michael Usa, Sr., forward; Will Hall, Sr., forward; T.J. Washington, Sr., guard

Key newcomers: Chacai Campbell, So., guard; Sean O’Rourke, So., forward; Cole Armel, So., forward; Darius Lane, Jr., guard; Jonathan Romero, So., guard; Chase Wilde, Jr., forward

Williams’ outlook: “We feel like we can surprise some folks. We’ll be competitive and we’ll have our guys ready to play each game.”

Next game: Tuesday at Warren County

James Wood

Coach: Tim Wygant, sixth season

Last year: 6-17 overall, 0-12 Class 4 Northwestern District

Key losses: Cam Firebaugh, Trent Campbell, Tyler Mounts

Key returning players: Ben Smith, Brian Harlow

Key newcomers: Quinton Thacker, So., guard; Jaden Ashby, Fr., guard; Jonathan Davet, Jr., guard; Jayson Herndon, So., forward; Lavaughan Freeman, Jr., forward

Wygant’s outlook: “The coin is in the air — heads or tails. I can tell you that they’re going to have a lot of energy. I can tell you that we’ve had a lot of integrated practices between the JV and the varsity because we are young. I would say 100 percent of the time you are going to see some of those JV kids playing varsity minutes. They are competing against each other all of the time. I think that we are really going to concentrate on development this year. I don’t like to say it’s a rebuilding year because it’s not. We’re still going to be trying to win every game, but we’re looking to reinvigorate the program and insert a lot of energy, accountability and responsibility and teach these kids the right way to play basketball.”

Next game: Friday at Strasburg

Clarke County

Coach: Brent Emmart

Key losses: Billy Holsinger

Key returning players: Colby Childs, Jr., guard; Dakota McCaw, Sr., guard; Daniel Jones, Jr., guard; Volkan Ergen, Jr., forward; Trey Trenary, So., forward

Key newcomers: Robert Jackson, Sr., center; Jacob Weddle, Jr., forward, Jacob Weddle, Jr., forward

Emmart’s outlook: “It’s a tough district. We’ve got to bring it every night. There are no easy outs. We’ve just got to get better every day. Every opportunity we get as the year rolls on we’ve just got to keep getting better and growing as a team.”

Next game: Friday at Warren County

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