Wood helps Warrior boys beat Colonels

By Robert Niedzwiecki
The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — With wins over Millbrook and Skyline this week, the Sherando High School boys’ basketball team has certainly proven it can play well without Terry Wood.

But as the fourth quarter at Donald H. Shirley Gymnasium proved Saturday night, it sure doesn’t hurt having the big man around.

Wood, the Warriors’ 6-foot-7 sophomore center, scored 10 of his game-high 21 points and grabbed seven of his game-high nine rebounds in the final eight minutes to lead Sherando to a 64-56 Northwestern District victory against James Wood.

It was an impressive finish to an impressive week. After having not played in 18 days heading into Monday, Sherando won all four of its games this week, the last three against district foes.

Sherando (5-4, 3-0 Northwestern) trailed 47-44 heading into the final quarter. But Wood’s reinsertion into the game at that point after sitting the last six minutes of the third quarter with foul trouble helped the Warriors outscore James Wood (3-7, 1-1) 20-9 in the final eight minutes.

“It was very big,” said Sherando coach Garland Williams of the lift provided by Wood, who missed the last two games after injuring his left ankle during a 31-point effort against Jefferson (W.Va.) on Monday. “He’s a big target, a top rebounder, and he changes shots. He’s a big body who’s able to put a body on people.”

Wood was at his biggest after James Wood’s own 6-7 forward, Mason Smith, fouled out with 1:47 left with the Warriors clinging to a one-point lead. Eleven seconds later Wood followed his own miss by converting his second rebound of the Sherando possession to put the Warriors up 58-55.

After a free throw cut the Warriors’ lead to two, Wood again attacked the boards, grabbing two of Sherando’s three rebounds on the Warriors’ possession. He drew a foul on the second one and knocked down the ensuing two free throws for a 60-56 lead, and Sherando’s defense took over from there.

James Wood, which made 17 of 31 shots through three quarters but hit just 4 of 12 in the fourth, missed its last four shots, and Tre Porter knocked the ball away from the Colonels’ Chris Skinner to force a key jump ball that gave Sherando possession with 36 seconds left.

The game was tied at 36 when Wood left the game in the third quarter, and he was anxious to get back on the floor and make an impact.

“We just got the ball down low more, and the more shots I get, the better chance we have of winning,” said Wood, who was about 80 percent healthy. “As a team, we came together at the end, and when I came in everything clicked better. Toward the end, we just wanted the ball more than they did, and we made the stops we needed to at the end.”

Sherando (23-of-44 shooting for the game) out-rebounded the Colonels 14-4 in the fourth quarter and 34-17 for the game, and the Warriors hit all eight of their free throws in the fourth and made 17 of 20 overall. James Bowens (14 points) hit the Warriors’ last four free throws.

James Wood coach Al Smith said not having his son Mason (eight points) to guard Wood hurt the Colonels in the final two minutes because Mason defended him well when he was in the game.

Ultimately though, Smith said the Colonels need to do a better job with dribble penetration, because Wood and Millbrook’s Ben Reid (15 points) on Friday were either set up for easy baskets or were able to score on putbacks because of the breakdowns the penetration created.

“If we took that away tonight, we win this game,” said Al Smith, whose team responded to a 17-6 run by Sherando to start the game with an 18-2 run spanning the first and second quarters, which helped them take a five-point lead at the half. “To me, that was the main difference.”

The Colonels received 14 points from Garrett Cunningham, 12 points from Skinner (four steals) and 11 points from Chad Potter. But one of their stars, Trae Tinsman, never got into a rhythm because of foul trouble and finished with two points.

The game ended on a sour note — a heated verbal exchange took place during the post-game handshakes, and and a player from each team had to be separated — but it’s a week the Warriors can be proud of.

“It’s a big confidence-booster,” said Williams, who also got 12 points from Charles Hudnall. “Hopefully the guys realize that if we do things correctly and continue to work hard, good things can happen.”

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