James Wood overcomes drought to edge Handley

WINCHESTER — When you go more than half of a basketball game without making a field goal, you’re not supposed to win.

Somehow, James Wood managed to pull out that miracle at Handley on Friday. The Colonels went nearly 19 minutes without making a field goal, yet rallied from a double-digit deficit in the second half to edge the Judges 34-30 at Maddex-Omps Gymnasium.

James Cornwell’s driving layup with 2:45 remaining gave the Colonels their first lead since midway through the first quarter and they hung on down the stretch to win their sixth straight game. The triumph was James Wood’s first against Handley since a 53-52 win in 2016 in a contest in which they rallied from 21 points down.

After Elijah Boggs’ basket at the 4:50 mark in the first quarter, the Colonels (7-2, 4-1 district) would not make another basket until Jaden Ashby’s 3-pointer with 1:53 left in the third quarter. That’s a span of nearly 19 minutes without a field goal.

So how did James Wood survive?

“It’s a gut check,” coach Tim Wygant said. “It’s a testament to the depth and how our kids want to step up. They look for their opportunities. … It felt like the basket was very small in the first half. They were challenged shots, but they were shots we usually hit. That’s a testament to Handley’s defense. They have a very good defense.”

“It was very frustrating,” said James Wood guard Elijah Boggs, who finished with 10 points. “We weren’t boxing out. We weren’t doing what we usually do and it almost cost us.”

After suffering a 59-36 defeat against Millbrook on Monday, Handley coach Jason Toton was determined for his team to limit baskets.

“The biggest thing that we came back from the other night after Millbrook is that we have to start defending,” Toton said. “We didn’t compete and in the 10 games that we had played that was the first game where we have not competed no matter what the score was.”

Both teams were short-handed in Friday’s contest. Handley (5-6, 2-2) had three players unavailable, including the area’s leading scorer Demitri Gardner (22.4 ppg) and starter Nick Hott. James Wood had players battling illness and lost its leading scorer Jerome McCarthy (10.4) to a hurt knee late in the second quarter.

Handley also shot poorly, especially at the foul line, but controlled the offensive glass and forced the Colonels to take tough shots. Leading 17-11 at the half, the Judges pushed the margin to as high as 10 points twice in the third quarter, the final time at 25-15 on Stephen Daley’s layup with a little more than two minutes left in the period.

But Ashby’s 3-pointer finally took the lid off the basket for the Colonels. His bucket triggered a 9-3 run that closed out the period and brought James Wood back to within 28-24.

“That really galvanized us,” Wygant said of Ashby’s basket. “It was an open shot and he hits them all of the time [in practice]. I’m glad he hit one in a game because that’s what we need from him.”

“It was really a team effort because we had a lot of guys that are sick and banged up,” said Cornwell, who had two baskets in the run. “The subs coming and providing us energy and getting buckets, that’s what we really needed.”

Daley’s putback gave the Judges a 30-26 lead two minutes into the fourth quarter, but they would not score again.

After Cornwell sliced through the Judges for a layup, Toton switched to a zone to limit the guard’s lanes to the basket.

That worked, but James Wood then got a huge bucket from an unlikely source. Reserve Connor Ballentine’s runner in the lane squared the contest at 30-30 with 4:10 left.

“Connor Ballentine was awesome defensively and hit the little floater in the lane to tie us up,” Wygant said. “He stepped in and got minutes he wouldn’t normally get and they were just great.”

With the foul-plagued Judges back in man-to-man defense, Cornwell drove left and scored with 2:45 left to give the Colonels the lead.

“It’s great to have a guy that wants the basketball,” Wygant said of Cornwell, a transfer from Mountain View Christian. “I’ve kind of challenged him the past week that he needs to shoot the ball more. He needs to get his feet in the lane and finish the basketball. He does a great job finishing when he takes it, but he’s a very unselfish player.”

The Judges were in desperate need to have someone to take over in the final minute. After a series of misses and turnovers, Handley took over with 51 seconds left, but struggled to get a shot.

After Toton took a timeout with 28 seconds left, the Judges again seemed bashful. Finally, Kemani Curry drove right and put up a contested shot, but misfired. James Wood’s Ethan Russell was fouled after the miss and calmly drilled two free throws in front of the screaming Handley student section to ice the game.

“The guys that were out there on the court, they’ve never been in that situation before,” Toton said of the last possession. “That was their first varsity game of being in a close game and somebody had to step up and take a shot. I think there was some nerves. It wasn’t the way we drew it up, but that’s when somebody has got to step up and want to be a leader and make that shot. Hopefully next time we’re put in that position, we’ll have somebody that will be willing to do that.”

Cornwell led James Wood with 13 points, while Boggs added 10, going 8-for-8 from the foul line. Curry led the Judges with nine points. The Colonels finished 14 of 20 from the line, while the Judges were 9 of 24.

“When you make 9 of 24 free throws, you’re not going to beat many teams,” Toton said. “The bottom line was we beat ourselves tonight by not making foul shots. I thought we missed too many easy baskets in the first and second half and we gave up too many second-chance opportunities. … Hopefully we learn that little things like free throws, boxing out and making layups are important.”

The significance of topping the Judges on the road in a strange game wasn’t lost on the Colonels.

“It means a lot because this is one of the hardest places to play,” Boggs said. “And especially [it means a lot] since we played pretty bad in the first half and came back.”

“It just further enforces our idea that we are a defensive team that is resilient and does its job,” Wygant added. “That’s what happened tonight. Every once in awhile the basket is not going to be open. If you can win a game like that, that’s a gutty game. That’s the type of win we can grow with.”

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