Saturday, January 20, 2001
Winton Woods aces test
No. 1 Warriors repel challenge from Anderson
By Carey Hoffman
Enquirer contributor
Byron Fields of Winton Woods shoots over Anderson's Bob Bove.
(Jeff Swinger photos)
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Winton Woods' 69-58 victory at Anderson Friday night offered the best of both worlds for the Warriors.
The city's top-ranked team improved its regular-season winning streak to 32 straight games, while getting tested in the second half for the first time since December.
“This was good for us,” said junior guard DeForrest Riley, who had 19 points. “Our goal is to be ready for the (tournament). If we blow everyone out, in close games in the tournament, you won't know what to do.”
Anderson, ranked No.8 in the Enquirer's Division I coaches poll and playing to tie Winton Woods for the FAVC Buckeye conference lead, made a second-half run that had tournament-style momentum behind it.
After watching Winton Woods score 23 of the game's first 31 points, Anderson rallied behind hot shooting from freshman guard Ryan Patzwald in the third quarter to tie the game at 51-51 heading into the fourth quarter. The Anderson students started the “over-rated” chant, and it appeared Winton Woods might be vulnerable.
“At that point, we were just trying to put ourselves in a situation where we could get all our athletes on the floor,” said Winton Woods coach David Lumpkin, whose team has been bitten by the flu bug this week.
J.D. Collar pulls a rebound away from DeForrest Riley.
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Fortunately, he had a healthy Riley. While Anderson tried to run a box-and-one to stop Warriors star Robert Hite at the beginning of the fourth quarter, Riley immediately drove into the lane and hit a pair of medium-range jumpers to put Winton Woods back in control.
“Those were a couple of big-time shots he hit,” Anderson coach Frank Brandy said. “The biggest problem he presents is if he's not on the floor and you play a box-and-one to stop Hite, they don't have the perimeter shooters to hurt you. Now they've got another guy.”
Riley's jumpers changed the momentum. Anderson didn't score until Chris Norwell's layup after more than 4:20 had gone off the clock in the final quarter. The Redskins were down 59-55 then, and sending Winton Woods to the foul line in the bonus situation backfired when the Warriors hit all six free throws in the final 1:30.
Winton Woods put five players in double figures. P.J. Mills added 14 points, while Hite and Byron Fields had 12 each and sophomore C.J. Anderson had 10.
“I'm proud of our guys,” Lumpkin said. “It would have been easy to go in the tank on the road with everyone cheering against us. But we made free throws and we executed.”
Winton Woods is 12-0, and its toughest remaining test figures to be a visit to Xenia on Tuesday.
The Warriors finished 20-0 last season, then were upset by Hamilton in the sectional finals. Riley, a transfer from Louisiana, wasn't there, but he has heard about it and wants to avoid a repeat.
“When we get to the tournament, we don't want it to be like last year,” he said. “I wasn't here, but on a daily basis, I hear about that Hamilton upset.”
So Friday's competitive game was better for both teams than the first meeting in December, which was a 30-point win for Winton Woods.
“We'll see what happens,” Brandy said. “I told our kids we played a top-five team in the state down to the wire. We lost, but we have to be able to take something away from that.”
WINTON WOODS (69) - Anderson 4 2 10, Fields 4 4 12, Hunter 0 2 2, Riley 8 0 19, Hite 6 0 12, Mills 6 2 14. Totals: 28 10 69.
ANDERSON (58) - Patzwald 4 2 13, Collar 2 0 6, Riddell 3 2 9, Thompson 3 0 6, Norwell 10 2 22, Kosky 1 0 2. Totals: 23 6 58. Winton Woods 23-18-12-16-69 Anderson 10-21-22-5-58
3-point goals: WW-Riley 3; A-Patzwald 3, Collar 2, Riddell. Records: WW 12-0 (8-0 FAVC Buckeye), A 7-5 (6-2 FAVC Buckeye).
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Winton Woods aces test