In a roller coaster ride of a season, Woodberry Forest coach Joel Justus, among a slew of other discussions with his team, has talked consistently about one big thing.
“We talk about winning plays at winning times,” Justus said. “There were three of them (tonight).”
Down by a point in the Prep League quarterfinals, Kevin Chuisseu made the first one when he shifted around a Collegiate rebounder on C.J. Prosise’s missed free throw with 12 seconds left and elevated to grab a critical offensive board. Then, out of the ensuing timeout, Prosise made one when he patiently held the ball to nearly the end of the five-second count and then connected with a streaking Jack Flournoy on the inbounds pass.
With the decisive cut to the basket and a difficult lay-in, Flournoy made the third winning play and put the Tigers up 52-51, which held as the final score when a Collegiate attempt from the 3-point line clanged away and sent Woodberry’s home crowd and bench into ecstasy.
It was a wild finish to a back-and-forth game. Collegiate got the jump on Woodberry by changing up their offense significantly from their usual sets.
“They went against everything that they normally do and we weren’t ready for it,” Justus said. “They basically went to a 5-out motion and we struggled.”
Despite that struggle, Woodberry (13-11) appeared to take control in the third quarter with a 13-3 run that gave the Tigers a 41-31 advantage after a deadlocked, 28-28 first half. But Collegiate rallied in the fourth and took a 48-45 lead on a Wilton Speight bucket. Woodberry answered with a Chuisseu score off a slick pass from Flournoy, but Collegiate broke back with a Doug Randolph basket. Woodberry again cut the lead to one with a Flournoy bank shot and the teams traded free throws to bring the score to 51-50 just before Chuisseu’s incredible offensive board off the Prosise miss.
That set the stage for Prosise and Flournoy’s heroics and moved Woodberry into the Prep League semifinals against St. Christopher’s, this year’s host team. Tip off is slated for 7:30 Friday night.
Flournoy finished with 23 points while point guard James Long and Prosise chipped in 10 each.
“He’s getting it back,” Justus said of Flournoy. “He’s a tremendous basketball player.”
Randolph (12 points) and Speight (11) carried the load for Collegiate.
