Handley 58 to 36 over Sherando
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Handley boys beat Sherando to snap four-game skid
WINCHESTER — Just over a week into the new year both the Sherando and Handley boys' basketball teams were still searching for their first victory of 2020 when they met Friday night at Handley High School.
Having a week off between games, Handley may have found some of that aggressiveness and consistency it was looking for.
The Judges scored the first nine points of the game and never looked back, rolling past the Warriors 58-36 to snap their four-game losing streak and send Sherando to its seventh straight defeat.
"I thought we did a good job of getting after them defensively and executing our game plan on what we were going to do," said Handley coach Jason Toton, whose team dropped to 6-7 with a 44-38 loss to Spotswood on Saturday. "I thought we talked and communicated and did everything we needed to do.
"We still made some bonehead plays here and there but I was pleased overall how we did things offensively and defensively."
Handley (3-2 Class 4 Northwestern District) got off to a tremendous start, scoring the first nine points of the game.
Junior Emerson Ferguson got things going with a short jumper in the lane nearly two and a half minutes into the contest. Classmate Kemani Curry buried a long 3-pointer at the 4:38 mark for a 5-0 lead.
Nearly a minute later another junior, this time leading scoring Demitri Gardner, drove the lane, scored and was fouled. His free throw made it 8-0 and Ferguson finished the run by hitting one of two free throws with 3:00 left in the quarter.
Sherando (3-11, 1-6) finally got on the board when sophomore Amari Williams made a steal at midcourt and drove for a layup with 2:30 left in the quarter but the Warriors found themselves down 11-2 after the first eight minutes of play.
Things didn't go much better for Sherando to start the second quarter. Handley stormed the Warriors with a 12-2 run to open the frame and had a 23-4 lead with 2:21 left in the half.
Curry started it with another 3-pointer followed by a layup from Nicholas Hott to make it 16-4. Gardiner scored the next five points of the game and Chaz Lattimore had a driving layup for the 19-point cushion.
Two free throws by James Harris ended the Judges run and pulled the Warriors back to 23-6 but a free throw by Gardiner and an offensive putback by Jayden Vardaro pushed the Handley lead to 20 (26-6).
Sherando didn't reach double figures until Cole Armel's three-point play with 14 seconds left in the half, which was the Warriors' only field goal of the second quarter. His free throw made it 26-10 but the Warriors let Gardiner drive baseline and bank in a shot at the buzzer for a 28-10 Judges lead at the break.
Gardner outscored the Warriors by himself in the first half, tallying 11 points to Sherando's 10. He had a game-high 21 points. Curry and Vardaro added nine points each.
"Demitri is our go-to guy but I think offensively we're starting to get better and other guys are starting to produce," Toton said. "I tell the kids every day I'm not worried about who we're playing, I'm worried about if we come out and we do the things we're supposed to do and we execute like we know how then good things happen to us. Hopefully, the guys are starting to see that and they see a light that kind of goes off and they realize that this is the way we need to start doing things all the time."
Sherando pretty much played toe to toe with the Judges in the second half but the early deficit was just too much to overcome.
Gardiner opened the second half with a steal near midcourt. Much to the delight of the Handley faithful he drove all the way to the hoop and slammed it home, pushing the lead back to 20 (30-10).
The Warriors scored the next five points to trim the deficit to 15 (30-15) but that's as close as they could get the rest of the way. The two teams played to a 12-12 deadlock in the third and Handley still held an 18-point advantage (40-22) after three.
Handley scored the first five points of the final quarter and took its biggest lead of the night (45-22) on Curry's third trey of the game just over a minute into the fourth.
Sherando was able to get as close as 15 one more time but over the last six minutes of the game the lead bounced between 15 and 22 points.
"[Handley] plays aggressive, they play tough and they have enough shooters to get the job done," Sherando coach Garland Williams said. "They make you earn everything. They did a good job of taking us out of what we wanted to do. I thought there were times where we could have executed better but their defense didn't allow it.
"Give credit to them. We saw some things that we did a little better then [Thursday night at Kettle Run]. I told the guys we need to find some way to stop the bleeding. All the losses previous to tonight were by single digits. This was the first one where we got taken to the woodshed. We've still got eight more games."
Keli Lawson led the Warriors with 15 points, all coming in the second half. Armel added nine for the Warriors.
Both teams have a pair of road games this week. Sherando is at Culpeper County on Tuesday and travels to James Wood on Friday. The Judges are at Liberty Tuesday and Millbrook on Friday.
WINCHESTER — Just over a week into the new year both the Sherando and Handley boys' basketball teams were still searching for their first victory of 2020 when they met Friday night at Handley High School.
Having a week off between games, Handley may have found some of that aggressiveness and consistency it was looking for.
The Judges scored the first nine points of the game and never looked back, rolling past the Warriors 58-36 to snap their four-game losing streak and send Sherando to its seventh straight defeat.
"I thought we did a good job of getting after them defensively and executing our game plan on what we were going to do," said Handley coach Jason Toton, whose team dropped to 6-7 with a 44-38 loss to Spotswood on Saturday. "I thought we talked and communicated and did everything we needed to do.
"We still made some bonehead plays here and there but I was pleased overall how we did things offensively and defensively."
Handley (3-2 Class 4 Northwestern District) got off to a tremendous start, scoring the first nine points of the game.
Junior Emerson Ferguson got things going with a short jumper in the lane nearly two and a half minutes into the contest. Classmate Kemani Curry buried a long 3-pointer at the 4:38 mark for a 5-0 lead.
Nearly a minute later another junior, this time leading scoring Demitri Gardner, drove the lane, scored and was fouled. His free throw made it 8-0 and Ferguson finished the run by hitting one of two free throws with 3:00 left in the quarter.
Sherando (3-11, 1-6) finally got on the board when sophomore Amari Williams made a steal at midcourt and drove for a layup with 2:30 left in the quarter but the Warriors found themselves down 11-2 after the first eight minutes of play.
Things didn't go much better for Sherando to start the second quarter. Handley stormed the Warriors with a 12-2 run to open the frame and had a 23-4 lead with 2:21 left in the half.
Curry started it with another 3-pointer followed by a layup from Nicholas Hott to make it 16-4. Gardiner scored the next five points of the game and Chaz Lattimore had a driving layup for the 19-point cushion.
Two free throws by James Harris ended the Judges run and pulled the Warriors back to 23-6 but a free throw by Gardiner and an offensive putback by Jayden Vardaro pushed the Handley lead to 20 (26-6).
Sherando didn't reach double figures until Cole Armel's three-point play with 14 seconds left in the half, which was the Warriors' only field goal of the second quarter. His free throw made it 26-10 but the Warriors let Gardiner drive baseline and bank in a shot at the buzzer for a 28-10 Judges lead at the break.
Gardner outscored the Warriors by himself in the first half, tallying 11 points to Sherando's 10. He had a game-high 21 points. Curry and Vardaro added nine points each.
"Demitri is our go-to guy but I think offensively we're starting to get better and other guys are starting to produce," Toton said. "I tell the kids every day I'm not worried about who we're playing, I'm worried about if we come out and we do the things we're supposed to do and we execute like we know how then good things happen to us. Hopefully, the guys are starting to see that and they see a light that kind of goes off and they realize that this is the way we need to start doing things all the time."
Sherando pretty much played toe to toe with the Judges in the second half but the early deficit was just too much to overcome.
Gardiner opened the second half with a steal near midcourt. Much to the delight of the Handley faithful he drove all the way to the hoop and slammed it home, pushing the lead back to 20 (30-10).
The Warriors scored the next five points to trim the deficit to 15 (30-15) but that's as close as they could get the rest of the way. The two teams played to a 12-12 deadlock in the third and Handley still held an 18-point advantage (40-22) after three.
Handley scored the first five points of the final quarter and took its biggest lead of the night (45-22) on Curry's third trey of the game just over a minute into the fourth.
Sherando was able to get as close as 15 one more time but over the last six minutes of the game the lead bounced between 15 and 22 points.
"[Handley] plays aggressive, they play tough and they have enough shooters to get the job done," Sherando coach Garland Williams said. "They make you earn everything. They did a good job of taking us out of what we wanted to do. I thought there were times where we could have executed better but their defense didn't allow it.
"Give credit to them. We saw some things that we did a little better then [Thursday night at Kettle Run]. I told the guys we need to find some way to stop the bleeding. All the losses previous to tonight were by single digits. This was the first one where we got taken to the woodshed. We've still got eight more games."
Keli Lawson led the Warriors with 15 points, all coming in the second half. Armel added nine for the Warriors.
Both teams have a pair of road games this week. Sherando is at Culpeper County on Tuesday and travels to James Wood on Friday. The Judges are at Liberty Tuesday and Millbrook on Friday.
