Hawks stay alive with play-in game victory

By Brad Fauber - sports@nvdaily.com

STEPHENS CITY -- If Thursday's Northwestern District tournament play-in game between James Wood and Skyline is any indication of how the rest of the tournament will play out, basketball fans throughout the area are in for quite a treat.

With the ball and trailing by a point with 53 seconds remaining, Skyline was looking to get the ball inside for a high-percentage shot for the lead as it worked the ball around the perimeter.

Junior Aaron Jeremiah caught a pass at the top of the 3-point arc and took a quick glimpse inside to see if teammate Ryan Dyke was open for an entry pass. What he saw instead was a gap in the Colonels' defense.

Jeremiah hit the hole a split-second later, driving to his left through the heart of James Wood's defense all the way to the basket, laying it in to give Skyline a one-point lead with 25 seconds remaining.

That bucket would prove to be the game-clincher as the Hawks held on for a wild 72-69 win, erasing an 11-point deficit in a decisive fourth quarter.

"We just kept working the ball around. We were trying to get it to Ryan [Dyke] inside for an easy bucket," said Jeremiah, who scored eight of his 13 points in the fourth period. "It wasn't working out, so we passed the ball around for an open shot. I had an open lane, took it and scored."

The Colonels (10-13) had an opportunity to reclaim the lead with 11 seconds remaining, but defensive pressure by Hawks junior Dayvon Haight forced a loose ball with less than eight ticks left.

After a mad scramble at half court, the ball was flipped up to Jeremiah, who took it in stride and laid it in just before the buzzer.

Key to Skyline's victory was a new 2-2-1 zone full-court press that the Hawks (13-8) unveiled midway through the final period.

The Colonels led 64-53 when Chad Potter hit a 3-pointer from the corner to open the final frame, but Skyline's increased pressure forced James Wood into eight fourth-quarter turnovers.

The Hawks took advantage of the Colonels' miscues and outscored James Wood 19-8 in the final eight minutes.

"It shows a heck of a lot of guts by our kids," Hawks coach Sonny Dyke said. "For them to go out and have to press like that, and come from behind in that amount of time -- it shows a lot about our character."

James Wood struggled mightily from beyond the 3-point arc all night, finishing with a miserable 4-for-28 mark from long range, including a 1 for 17 effort in the first half that resulted in the Colonels holding just a two-point lead despite forcing the Hawks into 15 first-half turnovers.

"We picked a bad night to have a poor shooting night," Colonels coach Al Smith said. "But our guys gave a great effort and battled right until the end. A shot falls here or there, we have a different outcome tonight."

Skyline was led offensively by Joey Neidigh and Ryan Dyke, who each finished with 20 points. James Wood was led by Ryland Williams (17 points) and T.J. Bruce (16 points).

The win snapped a five-game losing streak for Skyline, who will face top-seeded Handley in the semifinals next Tuesday at Sherando.