Woodberry brought size to the table already with Kevin Chuisseu and Caid Kirven. Now with Jack Flournoy back in the line after fully recovering from a knee injury, the Tigers have a rotations of bigmen that make them a matchup nightmare. With that trio dominating the paint and guard James Long’s aggressive style of running the offense, Woodberry rolled past St. Anne’s-Befield, 59-42.
“Having (the roation of forwards) really allowed us to play the way we wanted to play — with some tempo and really putting the pressure on the defense in transition,” said Woodberry coach Joel Justus. “You’ve got to be committed when you do that. I’m excited that we did that tonight.”
Chuisseu, Kirven and Flournoy took advantage of their depth of height as they dominated the paint on the glass on both sides of the court and combined to score 28 points with Chuiseu piling up 16. For the first three quarter Woodberry get behind their lengthy forwards and took a seven point lead midway through the first frame before stretching it out to 11 points early in the second.
“We didn’t get off to the greatest start to the year,” Chisseu said. “But we have everything we need to be successful. We played as a team today and this (win) helps our confidence a lot.”
STAB was able to keep the Tigers from racing away in the second thanks to the long rage shooting of Brett Johnson and Justin Paton. The two helped the Saints trim Woodberry’s lead down to seven points late in the second but a late burst from the Tigers made it a 10-point deficit at the break.
“They’ve just got a great inside-out game and it’s really hard to guard against it,” said Saints coach Brian Kent. “Their bigs are big and strong and able to kick it out, and they’ve got guys that can hit shots. Then (James Long), he pushes it up the court, making it a faster game, that made it hard on us.”
Even though Woodberry’s offense got off to a great start in the third, Johnson kept his team within seven points behind his 3-point shooting.
“Brett’s a tough competitor that plays hard,” Kent said. “He’s inside-outside guy, he can play inside but also knock down some set shots. But even with him, we never really could get over that 7-8 point lead (they had).”
Woodberry’s big men continued to thrive in their set offense and off of second chance opportunities, and the Tigers got an added burst from Long as he penetrated the paint and took advantage of the openings in the Saints defense. After finishing the third quarter up 12, the Tigers never let the Saints get closer than 10 for the rest of the way through.
“We really started playing our game there,” Long said. “When we play our game, we’re a great team. There’s a lot of talent on this team. When we establish the inside game and stay with it it opens up the perimeter. We get to run when we can and set up the offense when we want.”
Long wound up leading all scorers with 20 points. The victory snapped a four game skid since they defeated Fork Union back in the second week of December.
“It’s good to see positive things happen,” Justus said. “That’s a credit to the guys and how hard they’ve worked.”
For St. Anne’s, Johnson and Paton scored 35 of their team’s first 37 points with a pair of Darius Wynn free throws making up the other two points in that stretch. Johnson scored 18 points on the night behind five 3-pointers. Paton finished with 11 points.
STAB (2-8, 2-1 Prep League) hosts Fredericksburg Christian on Thursday at 6:30 p.m.
Woodberry (2-9, 2-1) heads to St. Christopher’s on Friday at 6 p.m.
