Clarke County's late run knocks off James Wood in boys' play

WINCHESTER — New Clarke County boys’ basketball coach Kent Auslander needed to have a conversation with guard Louie Marino at halftime.

The Eagles, who had scored the game’s first 10 points, trailed James Wood by a bucket at halftime and Auslander wanted more than one field goal from Marino over the final two quarters.

Marino responded like a champ. The senior scored 18 of his 21 points after the break, including the final seven points of the game, as the Eagles pulled out a 63-54 victory against the Colonels at Shirley Gymnasium.

Moses Day added two thunderous dunks and a pair of free throws that gave the Eagles the lead for good as Auslander won his first game with the Eagles after replacing longtime Brent Emmart, who died unexpectedly at age 52 in March.

Auslander, who played Division I basketball, said he expects a lot out of Marino, a 6-foot-2 senior with excellent range.

“I talked with at halftime and I told him, ‘Listen, you are so good. You are the most talented guy on the floor a lot of the time,’” Auslander said. “We have a lot of talent on our team, but when he is on he is really on. I just told him, ‘If you’re open shoot it. If not, attack.’ I want him to be the one making plays a lot of the time and he showed that in the second half.”

Marino said he got the message.

“My coach brought me to the side at halftime and told me I have to get into that mode to bring my team back into the game,” he said. “We were down by two (31-29) at halftime and we just had to bring that momentum back.”

Marino drilled a 3-pointer on Clarke County’s first possession and went on to score 11 points in the third quarter as the Eagles rallied to take a 48-29 lead.

“For a shooter, especially me, once I see one go in, it all starts flowing right after that,” Marino said.

The Colonels (1-2) wouldn’t go away, though. Kemper Omps sank two 3-pointers and Ashton Kees added a pair of free throws with 5:11 to go to tie the score at 50-50.

Day’s dunk off a turnover that was sandwiched by two free throws pushed the Clarke County lead back to 54-50, but Harry Nichols scored four straight points to knot the score again at 54-54 with 1:52 left.

But from that point, the Eagles took control.

Day grabbed an offensive rebound and was fouled. He sank two free throws with 1:28 remaining to give the Eagles the lead for good.

On James Wood’s next possession, Marino picked off a pass from Kees and raced down for a layup to push the lead to 58-54. The Colonels struggled to get good shots from there and Marino made 5 of 6 free throw attempts over the final 44 seconds to salt away the victory.

“Our guys, we focused defensively,” said Auslander when asked about how his team performed in crunch time. “We executed and we were talking a lot. Offensively, we ran our sets, we made shots and we had a couple of big offensive rebounds.”

The final of those three things is what had James Wood coach Tim Wygant upset with his Colonels.

“We didn’t box out,” Wygant said. “That was the story of the game. It was the same thing that happened to us the other day against Fauquier (a 70-66 overtime loss). We need to realize that if we don’t rebound the basketball we’re not going to win. It’s just that easy. ….That was the reason why we struggled against Fauquier and it was the reason why we struggled tonight.”

The Eagles came out blazing at the start. Will Booker had five points in a 10-0 run to open the game.

But as they seemed to do all night, the Colonels fought back, scoring nine straight points. Clarke County led 17-12 after one, but Omps’ first of four 3-pointers tied the score at 24-24 and Brandon Waters would nail a jumper with six seconds left to give the Colonels the 31-29 halftime lead.

Marino went 4 of 7 from long distance as he made half of the Eagles’ eight 3-pointers.

“When I get rolling like that, the rim gets a lot wider,” said Marino, who also had four assists. “The shots start flowing.”

“We did a good job of shutting him down [in the first half],” Wygant said of Marino. “But, he’s a streaky shooter, he got hot and he got to the free throw line. Good shooters are going to do that. … We need to do a better job of finding shooters and closing out.”

Day added nine points, while Tanner Sipe and Caidan Broy notched seven points each. Booker added six points and eight rebounds.

Marino said the Eagles (1-1) were happy to get Auslander his first victory. “It feels great,” he said. “It means a lot to him and it means a lot to the team after Emmart passing to get the first win. We’ll try to enjoy this one, the first win of the season.”

Omps, who also sank four 3-pointers, led the Colonels with 16 points. Kees, who missed most of the first half after picking up two quick fouls, had 11 points, while Nichols added 10.

Both teams are back in action on Thursday as Clarke County hosts Wilson Memorial and James Wood welcomes Washington (W.Va.).

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