Boy's Basketball: Skyline 69 James Wood 46

By Mark Sawyer
Special to The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — Just under a month ago, the Skyline High School boys’ basketball team was suffering through a very forgetful season, having lost 10 of its first 12 games and finding itself in a battle to stay out of last place in the Northwestern District.

Things sure have changed for the youthful Hawks over the last four weeks.

Tuesday night Skyline completed an improbable run to the top of the standings by knocking off James Wood 69-46 in what turned out to be the regular season-finale for both teams at Donald H. Shirley Gymnasium. The win was Skyline’s seventh straight (and fourth straight in the district) and puts the Hawks (8-10, 5-3 Northwestern) in a three-way tie for first with Sherando and Handley.

“I’m at a loss for words,” Skyline coach Sonny Dyke said. “The expectations weren’t high at the beginning of the season, but they just kept getting raised as it went on. Co-champions, we’ll take it, just to be mentioned with Handley and Sherando.”

Skyline got off to a great start Tuesday, scoring 10 of the game’s first 12 points and racing out to a 20-9 lead after the first quarter.

The Hawks were on fire from the outside the entire first half, capitalizing on 17 first-half turnovers and hitting seven 3-pointers, but most of the damage came from an unexpected source.

Sophomore Joey Neidigh caught the scoring bug in the first half, burying five 3-pointers and scoring a career high 18 points — before halftime — leading the Hawks to a comfortable 35-23 lead. Neidigh connected on three free throws in the fourth quarter to finish with a game-high 21 points.

“Every night it’s somebody different,” Dyke said of Neidigh’s performance. “He’s the hardest worker on the team and he just made hustle plays all night long.”

James Wood (8-12, 3-4) never could get on track offensively and trailed by 12 points entering the fourth quarter.

The Colonels, who never led in the game, appeared to be recovering at the start of the final period.

A 5-1 run cut the deficit to 50-42, and a turnover gave Wood the ball with a chance to cut it to six with just over six minutes to play. But that’s when the game changed dramatically.

Still upset about a non-call on James Wood’s offensive end the previous time down the floor, Colonels coach Al Smith was hit with a technical foul. Smith’s frustration got the best of him, and he was immediately hit with a second technical and ejected.

Skyline’s Ryan Dyke made the Colonels pay by knocking down all four free throws, sparking an 8-0 run to push the lead to 58-42 and all but ending the Colonels’ hopes of grabbing a share of the district title.

“No. 1, I was frustrated with the way we were playing and No. 2, I was frustrated with some of the officials’ calls,” Smith said. “This was very tough. Everyone knew the stakes of tonight’s game. We needed to win two games to get a share of the district title. We just couldn’t get into the flow, couldn’t get anything going.

“They shot the ball very well for not being in the gym for two weeks. Coach Dyke does a great job with those guys. They play so hard and play so well together.”

Once Smith left the game, the Colonels could never regroup and scored just four more points the rest of the way.

James Wood’s makeup game scheduled for tonight at Millbrook was canceled because the results will have no bearing on the standings. The Colonels will have the No. 4 seed and host the No. 5-seeded Pioneers in the play-in game Thursday night.

Wood was led by Trae Tinsman’s 13 points, and teammate Mason Smith added 12 before fouling out.

In addition to Neidigh’s career night, Zach Dove added 15 points and Dyke chipped in 11 for Skyline.