James Wood searching for a win

Sherando's last win came on Jan. 4 against a team that knows the feeling of a lengthy losing streak all too well. James Wood is now 0-16 overall and 0-7 in the district after losing 60-42 to Kettle Run on Monday.

The Colonels are averaging 39.1 points per game and giving up 64.8.

With just one senior and two returning players on a 10-player team, James Wood coach Tim Wygant expected his team to go through some growing pains this year.

Despite all the losses, Wygant said he hasn't seen his team's effort wane.

"The effort is definitely there," said Wygant in a phone interview on Monday. "I would put them against any other team as far as how hard they work. It's a matter of them getting experience in order to for them to see success on the scoreboard, and they understand that. They have a mature attitude.

"Of course, everybody wants to win. It's a lot more fun to win than lose. But they're enjoying the process. There are still moments of frustration on all parts. But I think those moments right now are trumped by the eureka moments when they start to actually understand what is happening in basketball. There's a ton of inexperience, but we have a lot of enthusiasm. They seem to be very excited and dedicated to the process. As long we can continue to do that — it may not be this year, it may not be the beginning of next year — we're going to see some success. If they continue to work the way they're working, it's going to happen."

Through 13 games, the Colonels have been led by sophomore Ben Smith (9.4 points, 5.9 rebounds), junior Lavaughan Freeman (6.6 points, 7.0 rebounds) and freshman guard Jaden Ashby (8.3 points).

"I think all of our post players are progressing considering they don't have a ton of experience," Wygant said. "Lavaughan really didn't play basketball until he was a sophomore. [Sophomore forward] Jayson Herndon has played one year of high school. Ben Smith has played a year and a half, so their progression is actually quite surprising. The direction of basketball is going more guard-centralized. To have three post players who really seem to put effort in is very exciting."

James Wood has played three opponents twice this season, and each time, it has been at least 12 points closer, including a 60-51 loss to Clarke County on Dec. 15 after losing to the Eagles 74-31 in their season opener.

On Saturday, the Colonels will take on a Strasburg team it lost to 52-45 on Dec. 7. On paper, it's probably James Wood's best remaining chance at getting a win.

"The ongoing theme with our team right now is there's one thing that the other team has done or can do that, the kids are so inexperienced, they haven't seen before," Wygant said. "The preparation on the fly yet isn't there yet because they're 15 years old. But we've seen pretty much everything Strasburg is going to throw at us. They're excited about it, because they competed well the first time."