Colonels hustle past Millbrook

By Robert Stocks
The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — James Wood senior Trae Tinsman blocked Millbrook’s Donte Harris, hustled the length of the court and came up with an and-one opportunity after scoring on a layup.

Tinsman’s play epitomized the type of effort the Colonels put forth, and his 25 points led James Wood to a 67-59 victory over the Pioneers in the Northwestern District’s boys’ play-in game at Donald H. Shirley Gymnasium Thursday night.

Tinsman, who had 12 rebounds and went 6 of 7 from the free-throw line, said his team definitely played with a sense of urgency after a sub-par effort in a 69-46 loss to Skyline on Tuesday.

“If we lose, we’re done, and we didn’t want [Wednesday] to be our last practice, so we came out here and played real hard,” said Tinsman, who also made a pair of 3-pointers. “We definitely played as a team tonight. We all contributed very well, and that’s why we won tonight.” With the victory, the No. 4-seeded Colonels (9-12) advance to face top-seeded Handley tonight at 6 in the first of two semifinal games at James Wood. The second semifinal game matches No. 2 Skyline and No. 3 Sherando.

Tinsman didn’t convert the three-point play after hustling down court on that sequence early in the fourth quarter, but his layup capped four unanswered points by the Colonels to start the period, giving them a 49-33 advantage with just over seven minutes left.

That lead appeared safe, but the Pioneers (6-15) made a late run to cut the deficit into single digits.

Millbrook junior guard Devin Call (team-high 24 points) and freshman guard Rze Culbreath led a 9-0 run midway through the fourth. Call scored five in the run, including his second 3-pointer of the night, and Culbreath’s steal and layup cut James Wood’s lead to 56-47 with 3:20 remaining.

James Wood sophomore guard Chad Potter got fouled on a baseline runner and knocked down the free throw for the three-point play, putting the Colonels ahead 61-48 with 2:07 left.

From there, Call’s three-point play cut Wood’s lead to 66-58 with 29 seconds remaining but that proved to be as close as the Pioneers could get.

Potter finished with 14 points off the bench, and junior forward Mason Smith added 12.

Colonels assistant coach Tim Wygant guided Wood as head coach Al Smith served a one-game suspension for getting ejected in Tuesday’s loss to Skyline.

“Al does a great job and he’s taught me a slew of information. And that man over there [Millbrook coach Scott Mankins] taught me a ton of information, and I played under him when he was here,” Wygant said. “We’ve been stressing that we want to play our best basketball in February. All the previous games, all the previous practices are strictly in preparation for tournament time. The kids really performed extremely well tonight.”

The Colonels managed to move on despite using just seven players.

“We had a relatively shallow bench tonight,” Wygant said. “We’ve lost a couple kids throughout the season but the kids we have really came together. They came together at the right time, and we’re ecstatic about that.”

Millbrook struggled to get much going offensively, going through a drought from the field that lasted 9:37. The Colonels used a 21-2 run during that span to take a 26-8 lead with 3:54 remaining in the first half.

Call missed his first seven shots from the field, but he scored eight in the closing minutes to cut James Wood’s lead to 28-16 at the half.

The Pioneers only had three players factor in the scoring through that point.

Millbrook senior forward Rylan Banks finished with 13 points, but went just 5 of 16 from the free throw line. Culbreath scored all nine of his team’s points in the fourth quarter.

“The bottom line is whatever else happens, you’ve got to put the ball in the hole,” Mankins said. “We didn’t do that. What you saw tonight is what you saw all season when you saw us. I know the first half we shot 23 percent. I think we missed 19 free throws.

“But it’s a testament to our kids — the heart of our kids and how much they’ve improved this year — that we were able to be within striking distance in the last minute of the ball game.”

Millbrook cut the Colonels’ lead down to six on two occasions early in the third quarter, but Tinsman connected on his second three to put the Colonels ahead 36-24 at the 4:51 mark in the third.

James Wood held that same margin, taking a 45-33 lead into the final quarter.

“Trae had an outstanding game and we’re going to continue to look to him,” Wygant said. “I think we had a lot of great performers tonight but his was outstanding.”

The Colonels’ win sets up their third meeting with Handley this season. The Judges swept the first two, winning 66-49 and 65-44.

“We haven’t beaten them yet this year, and we know we’ve got to come out real intense and real hard,” Tinsman said. “We had a good practice [Wednesday], so we know what we’ve got to do.”

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