WINCHESTER — Will Braun-Duin continued to showcase on Tuesday why Division I programs are paying close attention to the sophomore.
Braun-Duin scored 30 points to lead the Handley High School boys’ basketball team to an 85-46 win over rival James Wood in Maddex-Omps Gymnasium.
With the victory, Handley (17-0, 5-0 Class 4 Northwestern District) remained perfect this season ahead of its final five games of the regular season. After winning its previous three games, Wood fell to 9-8 (2-4 district).
Braun-Duin’s game-high 30 points came off of just 11 shots, seven of which he made. He also was 12 for 12 at the free-throw line and had seven assists and three steals.
All of Braun-Duin’s misses came in the first quarter. After starting the game 1 for 5, Braun-Duin was glad to bounce back the rest of the night.
“I’m proud of myself,” he said. “I missed my first three 3s, and I’m proud of myself for bouncing back. In the past, I could have gotten down on myself and a 0 for 3 turns into a 1 for 8, and that’s the maturity where I think I’ve grown.”
James Wood played about as well as it could’ve to begin the game, holding a 6-5 lead midway through the first quarter. Even trailing 14-10 with 1:19 left in the opening period, the Colonels were well within punching distance. That was until the floodgates opened, as Handley’s Jaevon Brisco hit a wide-open 3-pointer in the left corner with one minute left that sparked a 19-2 run for the Judges. After Brisco’s shot from beyond the arc, James Wood coach Ben Bates knew his team had its work cut out for itself.
“From there, the game just completely spiraled,” Bates said. “I mean, I felt like we truly competed for a good solid 10 minutes, and then, other than that, we just weren’t ready.”
Handley wound up holding Wood scoreless for over five minutes in the second quarter to take a 21-point lead with 2:55 left before halftime. The Judges continued to control the game from there and entered the locker room up 45-18.
Handley coach Zach Harrell-Zook and the Judges have grown accustomed to runs like they had in the first half against the Colonels.
“When you have a talented group and skilled group that play well together and understand each other’s skill sets and how they can score together, I think that you’re equipped to go on runs like that throughout the course of the game,” Harrell-Zook said.
The Judges piled on their 27-point halftime lead by outscoring the Colonels 28-18 in the third quarter and 12-10 in the final quarter.
As a team, Handley made 57.1 percent of its shots and had 16 steals.
Braun-Duin said he has been garnering looks from several Division I programs in the Power Four, including Purdue, Virginia Tech, Virginia and Wake Forest. He already holds offers from Old Dominion, American, Tennessee at Martin and Mount St. Mary’s.
Because of NCAA rules, teams are not allowed to be in direct contact with Braun-Duin until June 15. Although the sophomore is giving his full attention to the Judges’ season, he’s still looking forward to talking with schools about his future in basketball.
“Hopefully, June 15, I’ll be waiting by the phone, waiting for their texts and calls and answer them,” Braun-Duin said. “But there’s still so much more I can grow as a player [in], and I don’t want to commit until after my junior-year summer. So I’m just gonna keep working, and I’m gonna let the pieces fall.”
That said, last year’s Class 4 Northwestern District Player of the Year is hoping his years at Handley are only the beginning of his basketball journey.
“I want to make a career out of basketball, whether that’s in the [NBA] —which is crazy to say, but I believe that I can make it to the league — or in Europe, Australia or even some pro team in America,” Braun-Duin said. “And then after that, I want to coach. So I want my whole life to be basketball. I love this sport. God has blessed me in this sport.”
Along with Braun-Duin’s 30-point effort, Christian Dinges finished with 16 points on 6-for-9 shooting. Dinges had a few dunks in Tuesday’s contest, the second of which capped off the Judges’ 19-2 run late in the second quarter.
“Yeah, it’s fun dunking,” Dinges said.
While the 6-foot-5 forward Dinges was nonchalant about his leaping ability, Braun-Duin wishes he could jump as well as he can shoot the ball.
“To be honest, it makes me a little bit jealous because 3s are worth more than 2s, but everyone gets really hyped for the dunks, and I can’t do that,” Braun-Duin said of Dinges’ dunks. “But in all seriousness, the dunks are so cool. It gets me hyped.”
Dontrell McCreath also notched 11 points, seven assists and five steals for the Judges.
Brodie Sirbaugh and Ashby Copenhaver led the Colonels with 14 points each.
In hindsight, Bates wished his team would’ve played Handley earlier in the season to give his players an idea of what it takes to compete at a higher level.
“I wish we played them the first week of the season because now we know how well-conditioned and what conditioning actually looks like,” Bates said. “I feel like these guys [at Handley] do a good job investing in their bodies, and they do a good job of doing things that aren’t coach-led as much. Sometimes for us, if it’s not coach led, sometimes we’re not doing it, and I need to do a better job at finding those leaders to be able to form some of those clubs.”
Wood will travel to Warren County on Thursday. Handley will host Skyline on Friday.
— Contact Justin Robertson at jrobertson@winchesterstar.com
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