Big final period lifts Colonels over Millbrook

By Robert Niedzwiecki
The Winchester Star

Winchester — James Wood High School boys’ basketball coach Al Smith wouldn’t be successful if he tried to petition the Northwestern District to move all the games to Donald H. Shirley Gymnasium, but he can certainly dream about it.

Demonstrating a performance he’s seen often in practice, but not nearly enough in games, the Colonels made six 3-pointers and exploded for 33 fourth-quarter points on 11-of-14 shooting to rally from an eight-point deficit and defeat Millbrook 62-54.

“We’ve had some shooting woes,” Smith said with a slight laugh after his team improved to 3-0 at home. “On the road, we’ve been shooting in the 20s. It’s tough to win when you shoot 20-something percent.

“The offense came to life. If you were to see these guys in practice, and I know there’s a big difference between practice and games, we shoot very well. For some reason, when we put that uniform on, things change.”

James Wood’s late offense was an unlikely finish to a game that had been defined by defense and scrappy play until the final few minutes. Each team shot under 33 percent through three quarters, and the Frederick County rivals combined for more than 10 first-half blocks and combined to force 36 turnovers through three quarters.

The Colonels (3-6, 1-0 Northwestern) scored more points in the fourth quarter than in the first three combined, as they trailed 37-29 going into the final eight minutes.

In the fourth quarter, the Colonels made 6 of 8 shots from 3-point range after hitting just 2 of 11 in the first three. Surprisingly, it was Garrett Cunningham who had the biggest impact in that area, hitting two 3-pointers in a 33-second span, the first giving the Colonels the lead for good against a feisty Millbrook (1-6, 0-2) team.

Cunningham came into the game shooting just 9 percent from beyond the arc and had taken just one shot Friday — a missed 3-pointer — before the 2:17 mark.

But given that he would have to pick up the slack for Trae Tinsman (team-high 15 points) at that point — the senior committed his fifth foul on a Rze Culbreath basket that cut James Wood’s lead to 52-51 — Smith told Cunningham that his team needed him to play big.

“He just told me to stay calm and find my shot,” said Cunningham, who finished with seven points. “I’ve been in a slump, so he just told me to calm down, relax, and find my rhythm.”

After Devin Call (11 points) tied the game at 52-all on a free throw with 1:59 left, Cunningham got the one look he needed to restore his confidence.

Taking a pass from Chad Potter (nine points), he drained his tie-breaking 3-pointer with 1:42 left. After two free throws from Rylan Banks (10 points) cut Wood’s lead to one, Cunningham hit one of the toughest shots of the night, angling his arms around a lunging Call from the left wing to make it 58-54 with 1:09 left.

“The second one was a little iffy, but after I hit the first one I’m just like, ‘You know, I’m open, give me the ball and I’ll score,’” Cunningham said. “I was ready to shoot again. I think that’s the first time I came out totally ready to shoot the ball.”

James Wood went on to outscore Millbrook 4-0 over the final minute to complete a win that will give the entire team confidence going forward.

Players like Cooper Franks (10 points) and Potter came up huge for a Colonels team saddled by foul trouble. Starting at the 2:22 mark of the third, starters Tinsman, Mason Smith and Chris Skinner each picked up their fourth foul within the next 32 seconds, and each had to sit until there were just over five minutes left. Smith fouled out 20 seconds before Tinsman.

“We worked as a team,” Tinsman said. “The past couple of games some of us have been doing individual stuff, but tonight we were talking on defense. We won tonight because we communicated and worked as a team.”

For the Pioneers, it was a tough defeat to take after giving a significantly better effort than they did in Tuesday’s 61-41 loss to Sherando.

Millbrook hounded James Wood into 9-of-34 shooting and 20 turnovers through three quarters, and the Pioneers made the Colonels’ 3-point shooting in the fourth difficult by challenging them and forcing them to take the shots from deep range.

Millbrook’s ability to get to the basket for layups and second-chance points helped the Pioneers outscore James Wood 18-10 in the third quarter, breaking a 19-19 halftime tie.

“I couldn’t be prouder of this group of kids right now,” said Pioneers coach Scott Mankins, whose team was led by Ben Reid’s 15 points. “I wish there was something I could say, something I could do to take the sting away from them for them. They did everything tonight we asked them to do. The bottom line is [James Wood] made shots at the end.”

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