Things didn’t go as planned for Woodberry Forest in the third quarter as St. Anne’s-Belfield erased an eight-point Tigers advantage and then took the lead just seconds into the fourth quarter on a Charlie Murray 3-pointer.
Immediately after that bucket though, everything swung back to Woodberry. Jack Flournoy buried a long ball of his own, Woodberry quickly stretched the lead back out and rolled to a 74-58 victory, outscoring the Saints by 14 points in the final frame.
“We were letting the shooters get open,” said Woodberry junior C.J. Prosise. “But we made some adjustments at the end of the third quarter and came out in the fourth quarter and locked them down.”
Prosise finished with 16 points on the night while Flournoy led the way with 18 points, burying four threes and doing battle with Jordan Davis down low on the defensive end. With Flournoy and Kevin Chuisseu working together, the Tigers were finally able to slow down Davis in the fourth after he had 15 points in the first three quarters.
STAB started mounting the comeback late in the third with a Brett Johnson 3-pointer, one of his four on the night. Johnson hit the shot with 1:27 left in the quarter and just 37 seconds later, Murray hit another three, cutting Woodberry’s lead to just three. A Pierce Woodsmall fall away jumper, his lone bucket during the game, sliced the lead to just two points as time ran out in the quarter.
“They just had a moment there where they were enjoying playing basketball,” said STAB coach Brian Kent. “We’ve had a tough year and its been a struggle, I just felt like they were comfortable and having fun.”
The Saints struggled a bit with Woodberry partially because of standout guard Kodie Critzer’s sprained wrist. Critzer hurt the wrist last Friday and has gutted out some uncomfortable minutes, especially when it came to shooting.
“He’s hurt and you can tell — I think he’s a tremendous basketball player and I think that we were very fortunate that he was not healthy,” said Woodberry coach Joel Justus.
Critzer still, bad wrist and all, managed to score 13 and buried a 3-pointer during the third quarter.
The Tigers got a lot of help in the fourth from guard Tim Brisco, who was rock solid at the free-throw line, hitting seven fouls shots in the closing minutes to keep STAB at bay. Brisco finished with 11 points, and Woodberry point guard James Long also had a solid night with 14 points as Woodberry flashed a little bit of offensive balance.
Both squads are now pointed at the Prep League quarterfinals scheduled to start next Tuesday. Seeding should clear up tomorrow with the completion of other teams’ regular season schedules.
