January 22, 2011
By Robert Niedzwiecki
The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER- The Handley High School boys' basketball team certainly wasn't happy with Tuesday's loss to Northwestern District rival Sherando.

But if hadn't happened, the Judges might not have launched a thrilling comeback that they won't soon forget against another one of their other big rivals Friday night.

Handley defeated James Wood 71-69 in double overtime at Maddex-Omps Gymnasium, rallying from a 50-38 deficit at the start of the fourth quarter.

The Judges, who were behind almost all of regulation, owe a lot of their motivation to their distaste for what transpired Tuesday night in Stephens City.

"Going into that fourth quarter, we're down, and it's just easy to put our heads down," said Derek Dowrey, who scored 19 points and delivered the three-point play that put Handley ahead to stay in the second overtime. "But we just came off a district loss, and we just said we don't want to go there again. We just said, 'We've got to do what we have to pull this one out.'"

Handley (8-3, 2-1 Northwestern) did that mainly with its defense.

The Judges outscored James Wood (3-11, 0-3) 17-5 in the fourth quarter, holding the Colonels to just 2-of-5 shooting in those eight minutes. That effort was done mostly with man-to-man defense, but the Judges only implemented that after using their 2-3 and press zones to take James Wood (16-of-32 shooting in the first half) out of its rhythm in the third quarter.

But the comeback was also borne out of pure toughness and clutch play.

Robbie Lawler (game-high 24 points) erased nearly all of James Wood's 55-49 lead heading into the final two minutes of regulation by himself.

The junior guard hit a 3-pointer from the corner with 1:51 left to cut the lead in half.

With 40 seconds left, Dowrey made a first throw and missed the second. Kyle Murph (10 points) corralled the rebound but missed his putback. Lawler was there to grab it, and, after seeing his first putback attempt blocked, he laid in the second one to tie the game at 55 with 34 seconds remaining.

It was the first time the Judges had been on equal footing since a jumper by Ryland Williams (team-high 21 points) gave the Colonels a 2-1 lead 1:32 into the game.

Each team scored just four points in the first overtime, but the rebounding toughness that so impressed Handley coach Tommy Dixon helped the Judges surge ahead in the second extra session.

With the score tied at 61, Carl Hall missed a short jumper in the lane after freeing himself with a crossover move. But Dowrey powered in for the rebound, flipped up a shot and was fouled. He pumped his fist excitedly as the crowd roared, then hit a free throw to make it 64-61 with 2:11 left.

Dowrey was so fired up that afterward he said he could barely remember the play.

"The whole overtime was just a huge adrenaline rush," he said. "I was tired during regulation, but as soon as overtime hit, I was ready to go. I didn't feel [tired] at all. I was just running on pure adrenaline."

As Dowrey proved on that ensuing free throw attempt, the Judges were able to compose themselves for free throws. They hit 28 of 38 for the game and kept James Wood at a distance by hitting 10 of 11 in the second overtime.

After Lawler hit two free throws with 1:13 left, the Colonels never had a chance to tie. (A 2-point bucket by James Wood at the buzzer provided the final score.)

Dixon gave a lot of credit to the Colonels for controlling the tempo, but he credited his team's desire for providing the win.

"For whatever reason, we just turned it up in the fourth quarter," Dixon said. "We just didn't want to lose."

For James Wood coach Al Smith, who also got 18 points from Chris Skinner, the defeat couldn't have been more disappointing. It was only last Friday that the Colonels let a huge fourth quarter lead slip away against Millbrook.

"We have to learn to win ballgames late in the game," Smith said. "I know we have some young guys, but when it's late in the game, we tighten up. We put them in the bonus in the first quarter, we put in the bonus in the third quarter, and we gave them way too many opportunities to score without time running off the clock. We fouled too much, and we tightened up."

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