Colonels pull off monumental upset against Pioneers

WINCHESTER — Just eight days ago, the winless James Wood boys’ basketball team had suffered its second drubbing of the season at the hands of Millbrook.

The Pioneers raced to 50-17 halftime lead on the way 78-35 romp. That was preceded by a 78-43 win earlier in the season.

But none of that mattered as the seventh-seeded Colonels pulled off an upset of monumental proportions in the Class 4 Northwestern District Tournament at Casey Gymnasium on Wednesday. Ben Smith had a career-high 27 points and Lavaughan Freeman grabbed a career-high 22 rebounds in a stunning 52-42 overtime triumph over Millbrook.

The Colonels, now 1-21, travel to third-seeded Kettle Run at 7 p.m. tonight in a semifinal that could decide a Region 4C playoff berth. Should top-seeded Handley beat No. 5 Sherando tonight, the winner of the James Wood-Kettle Run matchup would receive the district’s second regional spot.

The Colonels outscored Millbrook 10-0 in the overtime to complete the upset.

According to James Wood head coach Tim Wygant it was “the first time, I think, in 12 years, that we have advanced to the second round of the tournament.”

Millbrook’s season ends at 18-5.

“It was a great effort by them. Let me be clear about that,” said Millbrook coach Rob Harris. “They came out and played hard, limited their mistakes and gave great effort.

“Maybe we didn’t all the time, but I’m not going to blame it on my guys. That’s not what we do. We had a good season. Just couldn’t do enough tonight.”

Wygant said he was ecstatic to get a tournament win.

“I told them I’d trade 20 wins for one [Northwestern District] round victory,” he said. “I couldn’t be more pleased for them. All of them.

“I told them you can’t beat [Millbrook] five-on-five, but we can use our bench. Our bench came through.”

But it was a sophomore starter who made the big difference on the scoreboard.

Smith scored more than half of his team’s points on his career night. Those included four points in overtime.

Freeman (10 points) was the only other Colonels player in double figures, but the the remainder of the Colonels won it with their defense, according to Smith.

“We played great defense tonight,” Smith said. “We finally listened to what Coach Wygant was telling us, about picking them up on defense, but we did tonight. It was a major thrill.”

The game was tied at 11 at the end of the first quarter and 19 apiece at intermission.

But Millbrook took a seven-point lead to begin the fourth quarter and was ahead by four on two occasions with 2:34 left in regulation.

But Smith dazzled with a one-handed floater and then Freeman tipped in a basket. The game was tied for the seventh time with 34 seconds left.

The Colonels Elijah Boggs made a steal and got the ball to a teammate for a shot at the buzzer, but it missed and the game went to overtime.

Without blinking and backed by their loud fans, the Colonels went ahead by two on a Brian Harlow score and 46-42 on a layup by Quinton Thacker at 1:34 of overtime.

Vaughan scored again at the 1:06 mark to make it 48-42 with 1:06 showing.

Fittingly, Smith scored the final two buckets of the contest.

“Truthfully we felt coming in, we had a great week of practice and thought we had a chance,” Smith said.

“They’re an athletic team with a great coach,” Wygant said of Millbrook. “In the previous two games we had shots, but we missed them. Tonight, we made more.”

Senior Noah Thomas concluded his Millbrook career with a team-high 16 points. Junior Jordan Jackson tallied 11.

— Contact Walt Moody at

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Follow on Twitter @WinStarSports1