Crazy things can happen in the first few weeks of basketball season. With a short practice schedule, particularly at boarding schools where players take a week off to head home for Thanksgiving during the critical preseason period, wild stuff can show up.
But make no mistake, at least one Woodberry player doesn’t think the Tigers’ 61-51 win over a talent-laden Miller was any fluke — not with the work Woodberry has been putting in.
“I wouldn’t say we were surprised — we know how good we can be and how good we really are,” said Woodberry’s James Long. “We came in and played as a team.”
Long, a 2010 All-Prep League point guard, had 13 points including two critical 3-pointers in the third quarter where Woodberry turned a one-point halftime deficit into an eight-point lead by the start of the fourth. Ziggy Vrana also hit a three during that stretch. C.J. Prosise then kept Woodberry out front with an eight-point fourth quarter, finishing with 15 on the night.
It was the Tigers’ defense that fueled the win though, as Woodberry managed to go toe-to-toe with Miller’s talented big men including 6-foot-10 Brandon Bolden. Bolden could only muster one field goal in the second half as the Tigers packed the paint and forced Miller’s guards to get the job done.
“You’ve got to give credit to those guys (Woodberry) they did an unbelievable job,” said Miller coach Scott Willard. “They really packed it in (on defense) and offensively they hurt us with a lot of ball screens. We didn’t communicate off of those which happens early in the year.”
Nobody on Miller’s offense could get any kind of rhythm going until Andrew White finally started knocking down shots in the fourth quarter. He managed to score 15 in the final frame, finishing with 23 on the night.
Despite that outburst, Woodberry continued to answer every bucket, with Prosise bringing a spark to the Tigers on both ends of the floor. He got several fastbreaks started with steals or loose ball pickups and drew fouls on a number of hard drives to the hoop, with Tim Briscoe and Long helping defensively on the peremiter.
“(Prosise is) really the missing piece from last year’s team because he was out most of the year with a foot injury,” said Woodberry coach Joel Justus. “He gives us an extreme amount of toughness as well as a swagger. He provides the ability to just go and make something happen.”
Miller is bringing together an entirely new roster that includes just one returner, Daniel Ginsberg, from last year’s roster.
Miller will get a chance to bounce back in a big way next week with four games in a span of five days starting with a matchup against St. Anne’s-Belfield. Then the Mavericks take on North Cross, Middleburg and Episcopal. Woodberry takes on another tough, deep and talented local squad when they play Blue Ridge on the road Tuesday night.
