Host Hawks hold off Colonels

By Brad Fauber - sports@nvdaily.com

FRONT ROYAL -- Host Skyline was able to hold off a pesky James Wood squad to grab an 81-74 win in Northwestern District boys basketball action Tuesday.

The Hawks (11-3, 2-1) never trailed in the game, and pushed their lead to double digits multiple times throughout the night, but the Colonels and their lightning-quick offense continually prevented Skyline from blowing the game open.

But James Wood (7-8, 0-3 Northwestern) could never quite get over the hump and grab the lead, and was ultimately let down by a 35-percent effort from the field, including a 12-for-34 mark from 3-point territory.

The Colonels hurt themselves with several missed opportunities under the basket, but Skyline's defense didn't do them any favors as the Hawks forced timely turnovers and pressured James Wood into contested shots.

"That's Skyline -- that's how we play," Hawks senior Joey Neidigh said of Skyline's stout defense. "We play shutdown defense. [James Wood] gets out and runs a lot, and scores a lot. You have to play defense the whole time."

The Hawks appeared well in control early in the first period as they jumped out to a 16-4 lead four minutes into the game. But James Wood battled back with a 12-4 run to finish the frame, aided by a 3-pointer from Ryland Williams and a pair of buckets by Mel Savarese.

The Colonels tied the game at 22-all on a trey from Chad Potter early in the second period, only to see Skyline push the lead back to nine midway through the quarter on a layup in transition from Kylmen Breeden.

James Wood once again fought back and pulled within two points with 28 seconds left in the half on a Potter 3-pointer.

"I thought our kids played with effort," Colonels coach Al Smith said. "It's a learning experience. I didn't think we played well, but we played well enough to put us in a position to win."

Skyline extended its lead to seven late in the third period as Ryan Dyke and Marcus Turner tallied five points apiece during a 10-4 Hawks run, but Williams and Jake Lewin nailed a pair of 3-pointers with less than a minute to play in the frame to cut Skyline's lead to 60-59.

The Hawks appeared to finally be putting the game out of reach as they opened the fourth quarter with a 13-2 run, aided by five consecutive James Wood turnovers, and held a 73-61 lead with 3:48 to play. But Skyline began getting sloppy with the ball, allowing the Colonels to close the gap once again in what became a recurring theme of the night.

"It seemed like every time I looked at the scoreboard, we would be up by double digits and they would come back," Dyke said. "But we haven't had too many close games -- I think that we kind of like these close games."

The Hawks were finally able to seal the win with a 6-0 run during the final minute to push the lead to 10 with 18 seconds to play, allowing coach Sonny Dyke to breathe a sigh of relief as the final buzzer sounded.

"I'd be happy if I didn't have to play them again this year," Sonny Dyke said. "In this league, every win is going to be a very big win -- you just have to survive, and we were lucky enough to do that tonight."

Ryan Dyke led the Hawks with 21 points, and Neidigh added 17. Potter led the Colonels with 14 points.