With Woodberry Forest big man Sacha Killeya-Jones tethered to the bench with a leg injury suffered in practice Monday, the Tigers’ Tuesday evening clash with St. Anne’s-Belfield didn’t have quite the sizzle it should have.
With the Tigers’ playing short-handed, STAB continued its hot start to the 2013-2014 season with a hard-fought 61-49 victory over Woodberry.
The Saints came out in a big way, taking an 11-0 lead out of the gate with Javin DeLaurier-Montgomery scoring seemingly at will during the opening frame. He finished with nine of his 12 points including a 3-pointer during the early run to help put STAB way out ahead in the early going.
“The last thing we told (his team before coming out of the locker room) is don’t be intimidated,” said STAB coach Brian Kent. “We set the tone early with that and went strong at them. We weren’t afraid to set screens and sometimes we don’t even do that during practice.”
Woodberry didn’t go away though, bouncing back to close the gap to just four points by the end of the first quarter with STAB clinging to a 13-9 lead. The Tigers couldn’t take control though, and by halftime the Saints built the lead back to 24-16. A late Tanner Morris 3-pointer giving the Saints some cushion going into the break.
STAB’s Parker Morris put together a solid night, particularly on the defensive end where he came up with six steals for the Saints. He led the way offensively with 15 points and dished out three assists.
Jalen Harrison had 12 points for STAB as the Harrison/DeLaurier-Montgomery sophomore tandem continues to give opponents fits. DeLaurier-Montgomery also hauled in seven rebounds and came up with a pair of blocks.
“Each individual kid accepted their role tonight and we had a great performance as a team,” Kent said.
With Killeya-Jones out of the lineup, Clark Yarborough and Luke Neeley took the lead with 13 and 12 points respectively.
“One thing that we have not had to coach so far is effort,” said Woodberry coach Craig Dawson. “Now more than anything we have to help them understand the execution part of things.”
The Saints moved to 4-0 in the Prep League, a big-time start for the Saints that includes a win over Christchurch, one of the League’s preseason favorites. STAB will try and keep things going in the right direction against Williamsburg Christian Academy on the road. Woodberry will hit the hit road Friday to take on Christchurch as the Tigers look to regain their footing in the Prep League.
