Max Johns scored on a putback with 2.4 seconds remaining and Woodberry Forest survived a hectic finish to escape Fork Union Military Academy with a 43-41 road win Tuesday night.
Johns’ basket capped a game-ending 10-0 run for the Tigers, who held FUMA without a point for the final 4:33 of the contest. The Blue Devils had taken a 41-33 lead on the strength of two Carl Trice three-pointers and a basket by Joshua Nevers, but that’s where things started to go downhill.
Woodberry (5-6, 2-1 Virginia Prep League) got a pair of free throws from Calder Clay and a jumper from Johns to cut the lead in half at the 2:31 mark. On Woodberry’s next possession, FUMA’s Adisa Gittens-Smith committed a foul and lost his head just long enough to draw a technical foul from the official, giving the Tigers two free throws in addition to the two they had earned from the foul. However, they split both pairs and remained behind.
Woodberry’s defense clamped down on the next possession and Clay went to the line again and tied the game with two foul shots with exactly two minutes remaining. FUMA head coach James Pelham instructed his team to melt the clock and the Blue Devils did just that, calling timeout with 14.3 seconds left.
The Tigers, however, did not allow FUMA (2-6, 0-2) to get the ball inbounds and forced a five-second violation, giving themselves one last chance. The ball would up in the hands of Joe Foley, whose game-high 14 points led Woodberry. Foley drove the baseline and put up a wild jumper that missed the mark. Johns, however, was all alone under the basket for the winner, silencing a raucous corps of cadets that had been trying to throw the Tigers off all game long.
“We really wanted to try to come off a double-screen there and get into the paint,” Woodberry head coach Craig Dawson said. “FUMA did a great job of pushing us out, but Max didn’t give up. We’ll take it.”
FUMA attempted a long inbounds pass which was knocked out of bounds by Woodberry’s Clark Yarbrough with two seconds left. Given one last chance, the Blue Devils threw the ensuing inbounds pass away, one of 15 turnovers they committed on the evening.
Both offenses started slow, leading to a 7-7 tie after one quarter. Woodberry Forest turned up the defense in the second period, opening up a 21-11 lead at the break that likely would have been larger had the Tigers not missed eight free throws in the half. For the game, they shot 21-for-36 from the line.
Fork Union came storming back out of the locker room, scoring the first seven points of the half and forging ahead for the first time all night on a three by Stanley White with 3:13 to go in the third. White scored 10 along with Trice to lead FUMA in scoring.
“I have a tremendous amount of respect for James and the way he runs his program,” Dawson said. “I knew FUMA wasn’t going to quit down 10 at half. We needed more energy and effort, and I think our press helped us out with that after we generated some steals.”
The Blue Devils shot 4-for-15 from three while holding Woodberry to 0-for-14 from beyond the arc. But FUMA managed to get to the line just seven times against Woodberry’s stout post defense, making five of those attempts.
“Clark was definitely big for us in the first half,” Dawson said. “We missed him last week. We made enough free throws–not a ton, but enough to get us some momentum and energy.”
Woodberry hosts St. Christopher’s on Friday at 5:30. FUMA returns to action when they host Christchurch, also on Friday at 6:45.
