Wood locks down Jefferson

By Mark Sawyer
Special to The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — Coming off its first win of the season, the James Wood boys’ basketball team was hoping for a repeat performance when hosting Jefferson (W.Va.) Tuesday night.

What the Colonel faithful got was a fourth quarter offensive explosion, leading Wood to a come-from-behind 75-63 non-district win over the Cougars at Donald H. Shirley Gymnasium.

“This is two big wins in a row,” James Wood coach Al Smith said. “We’re not satisfied with that. We need to grow from it and build on it.”

Trailing 47-46 after three quarters, the Colonels’ hopes took a dramatic turn for the worse at the beginning of the fourth quarter.

The Cougars (0-1) quickly scored to grab a three-point lead, and on Wood’s next trip down the floor, leading scorer Trae Tinsman was whistled for an offensive foul. It was Tinsman’s fifth personal, sending him and his at-the-time game-high 24 points to the bench for the final 7:36.

In came Garrett Cunningham, a starter who had struggled with his shot all night. Cunningham buried a pair of jumpers in the paint on consecutive possessions to give the Colonels (2-2) a brief 50-49 lead. After each team hit a pair of free throws, it looked as if Wood’s luck might be running out. Jefferson’s George Walker lost control of the ball, but before a pair of Colonels could gather it in, Walker regained possession and knocked down a long range 3-pointer to make it 54-52 Jefferson.

From that point, it was all James Wood, and specifically Chad Potter and Brock Lockhart. The two newcomers combined to score 18 of the Colonels’ final 23 points and sparked a 10-1 run that all but sealed their second win.

Four straight free throws from Wood (two each from Potter and Lockhart) made it 56-54 before Walker answered with a pair of his own to tie the game with exactly four minutes to play.

On the next trip down the floor, Potter hit a baseline jumper to give the Colonels the lead for good, 58-56.

Lockhart scored the next four points after the Cougars missed one of two free throws to make it 62-57. Two more free throws from Potter, followed by a steal and layup by Lockhart, gave Wood its biggest lead, 66-57, with just under two minutes remaining.

Jefferson made one final run when sharpshooter Garret Grantham buried a 3-pointer with 57 seconds left to make it 68-63. But James Wood closed out the game on a 7-0 run.

Jefferson led at the end of each quarter until the Colonels exploded for 29 points in the final frame on just seven field goals.

Behind Tinsman, Lockhart chipped in 19 points and Potter added 16, with both players scoring 10 apiece in the fourth quarter.

The two biggest differences in the game were free-throw shooting and the Colonels’ ability to shut Grantham down in the second half.

Grantham hit four 3-pointers in the first half and had 18 points at the break, but the Colonels stuck Lockhart in his face after that, and Grantham’s shot went silent.

Grantham only hit one field goal in the third quarter and only two more in the fourth, although he still finished with a game-high 30 points.

“What was going through our mind was we got to make sure and stop No. 15 [Grantham] and Brock did a heck of a of job on that,” Potter said. “That was big, that was a big swing in the game. Brock played such good defense, it gave us a chance to relax and work on our offense.

“This is a big win for us. We were 0-2, and this is a big swing. We’re on a 2-0 run right now.”

From the free-throw line, Wood connected on 22 of 26, including 15 of 16 in the fourth quarter. The Cougars only made 12 of 25, and Grantham was just 7 for 15.

The only other Cougar in double figures was D.J. Washington with 14 points.

James Wood opens Northwestern District play Friday at home against Sherando.