January 31, 2011

By David Selig       

STEPHENS CITY- When Mason Smith picked up his third foul Saturday night at Sherando, it seemed like a fairly innocuous moment.

James Wood trailed by a point with 6:07 remaining in the third quarter, and Colonels coach Al Smith elected to remove his son from the floor to prevent the 6-foot-7 forward from picking up a fourth foul.

But that just served as an invitation for the Warriors to make themselves at home in the paint.

Terry Wood scored 10 of his team-high 17 points in the third, and the Warriors made all 15 of their second-half field goals from inside the paint, defeating the visiting Colonels 56-53.

"At that point, that's when they started pulling away," Al Smith said of removing Mason, who finished with nine points and six rebounds. "You miss a big presence inside, and that's exactly where they went right after that. That did hurt us."

The 6-8 Wood - who did not start - was 5 for 5 from the floor in the third quarter, and he finished with a game-high 10 rebounds. Forward Jalen Harris also came off the bench and added 10 points and seven rebounds, and reserve guard Tre Porter scored 12 points.

If taking Wood and Harris out of the starting five was meant to send a message, it seemed to work. The Sherando big men were far more aggressive and effective than in a 63-40 loss to a smaller Millbrook team Friday night.

And once the Warriors (8-11, 4-2 Northwestern District) got going inside in the second half Saturday, James Wood (3-13, 0-5) had no answer.

A 28-8 Sherando run spanning the third and fourth quarters was highlighted when 6-4 senior George Asare (six points, five rebounds) elevated for a one-handed dunk early in the fourth. Wood followed that with another powerful flush just seconds later in transition, getting the Warriors' fans on their feet and forcing the Colonels to call timeout.

"It's a lot easier to make easy layups than shoot jump shots," Wood said. "With our size, we really should be able to do it to every team."

They weren't able to do that Friday night, as first-place Millbrook packed into a 2-3 zone and frustrated Sherando offensively.

Wood led his team with just seven points in that game, and he knew the Warriors needed to be stronger inside the following night.

"It was definitely a must-win game," Wood said. "After that performance [against Millbrook], we had to come out and play much better. And I think we did that."

Sherando coach Garland Williams was also pleased by the improvements his guards made. His team - which hadn't held a full practice since Tuesday thanks to the snowstorm - had just eight turnovers through the first three quarters. (The Warriors turned it over nine times in the fourth.)

"I thought we were a little more patient on offense, and I thought we did a much better job as far as taking care of the basketball and making better decisions," Williams said.

Sherando led 54-34 when Taylor Loudan made a layup with 3:49 left. At that point, several fans had left the gym, the Warriors' top contributors settled into chairs at the end of the bench, and the game seemed to be over.

That is, to everyone except the Colonels.

Though they never had a shot to pull even, James Wood went on a furious 19-2 run to close the game.

Chris Skinner - who hit six 3-pointers for a game-high 24 points - banked one in with two seconds left, but the Colonels were out of timeouts, so Sherando didn't even need to inbound and time ran out.

"The thing I'm proud about is that the kids didn't quit," Al Smith said. "Given our record and what's happened this season, it would have been very easy for them to put their heads down and just finish the time out on the clock. But they didn't."

Despite his team's lead dwindling, Williams stuck to the players he had on the floor. He said afterward that it should be a lesson to his group that they need to execute all the way till the end.

Smith hopes that spurt is just enough to give his Colonels a boost as they continue to seek their first district victory.

"We've had a lot of close district games," the coach said, "and tonight I think we just ran out of time."

- Contact David Selig at