District surprise: Defense helps Skyline to win

View larger image Skyline’s Aaron Jeremiah steps between Handley’s Kyle Murph (21) and Derek Dowrey (54) and grabs a loose ball in the first quarter of their game Tuesday in Front Royal. Dennis Grundman/Daily View larger image Darion Robinson leaps and shoots over Jonta Baltimore of Skyline in the first quarter. Dennis Grundman/Daily

By Jerry Holsworth - sports@nvdaily.com

FRONT ROYAL -- Skyline played almost flawless defense and got the points when it needed them, particularly from the free-throw line, to upend Handley 59-56 on Tuesday, and in the process send the Northwestern District boys basketball race into chaos.

The Judges (8-3, 1-1 in district) were expected to be the class of the district this year, but the Hawks (10-2, 1-0) have quietly kept pace.

The secret to Skyline's success was its ability to keep the ball out of the hands of Handley's powerful big men, Derek Dowrey and Cameron Jackson. Although the Judges had streaks where the pair was almost unstoppable, neither was able to sustain it for very long.

The Hawks defense just wouldn't let the Handley guards pass the ball into the paint, leaving them with perimeter shots and driving layups that wouldn't fall.

"Defensively, we have to play very well every night," Skyline coach Sonny Dyke said. "We're not the most gifted athletes, but we have kids that play hard the whole game. We have to get it done defensively to have a chance, and I thought we played a great game defensively tonight."

This became apparent almost from the opening whistle. After both sides missed all of their field goal attempts over the first two minutes of play, Judges guard Jacob Rudolph finally got the scoreboard to light up with a jumper with 6:01 left in the opening quarter.
From that point until the last minute of the first quarter Skyline dominated Handley, going on a 9-0 run over the next 3:30 of play.

With the Hawks leading 9-2, the Judges were able to finally get the ball inside. Jackson took advantage of it to score four straight points to end the first period, and hit the first shot of the second, narrowing Skyline's lead to 13-12 early in the second quarter.

The Hawks couldn't do anything on offense in the second period. Skyline hit just one of its 11 field goal attempts in the second period, leaving the Hawks wide open for a Judges comeback.

Unfortunately for the Judges, they didn't shoot much better over the same time period, hitting just 4 of 12 from the field in the second quarter.

The other two fatal flaws in the Judges' second quarter was their inability to get the ball to Jackson or Dowrey, and their six fouls during the period.

Skyline was able to hold on and take a 24-19 lead into intermission by hitting 8 of 10 free throw attempts.

Handley, however, was in no mood to throw in the towel, and came out for the second half determined to get back into the game.

Fighting back, the Judges were able to tied the score 31-31 with 3:14 left in the third quarter, but each time Handley got near the Hawks, Skyline responded with just enough offensive firepower to hold off the Judges.

Handley finally got the lead back, 34-33, with a layup by Darion Robinson with 1:50 left in the period, and a free throw by Chris Skinner with 50 seconds left. But Colton Ratcliffe got the lead back for Skyline with a towering 3-pointer with just 37 seconds left on the clock.

The Hawks kept building on their lead through the first five minutes of the final period, but with 2:51 left in the game Handley was finally able to get the ball to Dowrey in the paint.

The senior responded, and nearly stole the game from the Hawks.

Scoring all of Handley's points over the final 2:51, Dowery rallied the Judges to within one, 57-56, with 40 seconds left to play.

That, however, proved to be the end of the Judges' success in the paint, and two missed jumpers by Handley, and a layup by Ryan Dyke with 12 seconds left iced the game for Skyline.

Ryan Dyke led all scorers for the night with 22 points, including a pair of 3's and a 4 of 5 performance from the line. Joey Neidigh was also a key scorer for the Hawks with nine points, seven of which came in the critical fourth quarter.

Dowrey led the Judges with 16 points, eight of which came in the final three minutes of the game.

"I thought we lost the game in the first half," Handley coach Tommy Dixon said. "We became very selfish, and we didn't do a good job in any phase of the game. Dowrey and Jackson had a good night in the paint, but how many times did we get the ball to them?"