WINCHESTER — Unlike its previous game against James Wood, the Millbrook High School boys’ basketball team didn’t need any late-game heroics thanks to its superlative start on Friday night.
But after going on a 24-0 run for a 21-point lead 11 minutes into the game, an eight-point victory wasn’t exactly what Pioneers coach Erick Green Sr. had in mind.
Millbrook bounced back from Tuesday’s three-point loss to Skyline with a 70-62 home win at Casey Gymnasium, completing a season sweep of the Colonels that was never in doubt.
Led by Rylee Baker (24 points, five rebounds, two assists), the Pioneers (11-8) made 6 of 12 field goal attempts and 6 of 8 free throws en route to taking a 20-5 lead after the first quarter, then completed their 24-0 run by scoring the first six points of the second quarter for a 26-5 edge.
Millbrook led 30-13 at the half, maintained a 17-point edge after three quarters (46-29), and still held a 17-point lead at 70-53 with 1:35 left before a James Wood (3-13) flurry of nine unanswered points.
But for Green, simply controlling the game after the Pioneers’ dominant start was not enough. Millbrook took the lead for good at 6-5 with 5:30 left in the first quarter on a free throw by Braylon Fauver (eight rebounds, three blocks).
“Our biggest problem is that we get a lead, and we lose focus,” Green said. “We make games competitive that start off not competitive. That’s our biggest problem. It’s been that way all season long.”
Green certainly liked how Millbrook started the game.
Following a 3-pointer by James Wood’s Ashby Copenhaver 10 seconds in — Copenhaver (23 points) made seven shots from beyond the arc on Friday to give him a ridiculous 16 in two games this year against Millbrook — and a layup by Riley Myers (13 points) at the 6:30 mark to make it 5-2 Colonels, James Wood would not score again for nine minutes and 36 seconds.
Millbrook forced seven of James Wood’s 16 turnovers in the first quarter.
“The kids were listening to me, following the game plan,” said Green of the Pioneers’ defense.
Keon Lewis (15 points, eight rebounds, three steals) said Millbrook wanted to take away James Wood’s 3-point shooting. The Colonels made 14 of 22 shots from beyond the arc in the first Millbrook game (a 68-59 contest), and the Colonels only made three 3’s (all by Copenhaver) and five field goals total in the first half.
“We got up and stopped the shooters,” Lewis said.
Millbrook’s defense allowed it to thrive in transition. Baker had a steal and layup to make it 12-5 with 3:37 left in the first quarter, and Lewis had a layup and Isaiah Charles (eight points, three assists) knocked down two free throws to finish fast-break opportunities and make it 14-5.
“We knew we had to play hard. They almost beat us last time,” said Baker, who scored 11 points in a game-ending 13-4 run when Millbrook beat James Wood 68-59 on Jan. 9. “We knew it wasn’t going to come easy.”
James Wood interim head coach Paul Hvozdovic said the Pioneers did a good job of limiting what the Colonels wanted to do with screens in the first half.
James Wood’s hopes of creating offense then became significantly harder when point guard Brodie Sirbaugh — the team’s leader in scoring (18.5 points per game coming in), rebounds (5.8), assists (2.9) and steals (4.2) — picked up his third foul trying to get the ball back after Lewis took it out of hands with 1:10 left in the first quarter and the score still 14-5. Sirbaugh would not return until there was 1:36 left in the second quarter.
“[Sirbaugh’s] a really strong motor with everything we do on the offensive and defensive side of the ball,” Hvozdovic said. “But more than [his absence], we just really weren’t hitting shots. We started out slow. I do think we were getting opportunities and open looks.”
Two free throws from Lewis (Millbrook was 13 of 18 at the line) made it 20-5 at the end of the first quarter.
James Wood missed its first four shots of the first quarter, with a 3-pointer by Copenhaver ending its drought and making it 26-8 with 4:54 left in the second quarter. Millbrook’s Daniel Clater (eight points) closed the scoring in the first half with a driving layup to make it 30-13 with 1:51 remaining.
The third quarter saw each team score 16 points. The Pioneers’ smallest least was 15 points (30-15 and 33-18) and its largest was 22 (44-22) on two free throws by Clater.
Baker had an acrobatic layup where he drove the right side of the lane, raised the ball high in the air as a defender came at him, then swung the ball down and finished on the left side of the rim to make it 46-26. A 3-pointer by Myers cut Wood’s deficit to 46-29 after three.
The fourth quarter was an offensive explosion, with each team scoring 24 points before Wood scored the last nine in the final 1:04. James Wood did not get closer than 15 points until the final minute. Millbrook made 11 of 23 shots in the last eight minutes as part of a night where it made 26 of 59 shots (44.1 percent) and hit five 3-pointers.
“We were passing the ball and attacking the basket, and getting open shots,” Baker said. “After the Skyline game, our shooting wasn’t there, but it felt good today.”
Keanan Dennis added six assists and three steals for Millbrook.
In scoring 49 second-half points on 18-of-40 shooting (8 of 15 on 3’s) and 5-of-9 free throw shooting, James Wood showed it wasn’t going to lay down. Sirbaugh scored all 17 of his points after the break and had four offensive rebounds (five total) in the fourth quarter.
“We didn’t lose confidence in ourselves and our teammates,” Hvozdovic said. “You get five timeouts, and you’ve got to use all of them. We tried to cut the lead as much as we could and make someone proud in the crowd, making sure that they knew we were going to last all 32 minutes.
“It was really cool to see the guys not give up. We only get a few more opportunities to play before four kids graduate and leave the program forever, so we’re just trying to make them proud and give them a memorable experience.”
Hvozdovic wanted Meyers to take open looks when he had them on Friday, and he liked what he saw from the junior in his first start. His 13 points (11 in the second half) were nearly half of his 28 points in 11 games coming in. Hvozdovic also liked Yurish’s confidence with outside shooting. He knocked down two 3-pointers in a six-point game.
After halftime, Green felt his team didn’t follow the defensive game plan in the same manner as the first half.
Millbrook is capable of beating just about anyone — the Pioneers beat 15-5 Handley and 13-3 Meridian in the two games prior to the Skyline loss — but Green needs to see consistency.
“It’s frustrating, because we’re much better than we’ve played,” Green said. “The kids, they don’t have the fire inside of them or the fight inside of them to play four quarters yet. It’s very frustrating. The kids have to want it. They’ve got to want to be able to finish teams off and play four quarters.”
Millbrook will get an excellent chance to demonstrate greater focus on Tuesday when it hosts Liberty. The Eagles are only 2-15 but beat the Pioneers 61-52 on Jan. 20. James Wood will travel to Fauquier on Monday.
— Contact Robert Niedzwiecki at rniedzwiecki@winchesterstar.com
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