John Handley’s season went far from perfectly this year. Sharp-shooting Will Braun-Duin missed 20 games to injury. There was a loss to local rival Millbrook, Skyline, and a defeat by powerful Denbigh.
While the season wasn’t perfect, Handley’s playoff run was. That culminated Saturday in Richmond with an almost flawless 61-42 Class 4 Championship win over Hampton, which was the first boys basketball state title in the school’s 101-year history.
“The guys did absolutely everything they needed to win this game,” said Zach Harrell-Zook, the Judges’ head coach. “There’s no way for me to explain to you what this does for the city of Winchester.”
Harrell-Zook’s team closed the season on an eight-game winning streak. Then, the Judges defeated Sherando and Millbrook at home to open the playoffs, and defeated previously undefeated E.C. Glass on the road for the regional championship. At states, Handley defeated Broad Run and a Varina team on the road that had knocked out the Judges in last year’s state tournament.
“We had a crazy stretch of playoff games,” said senior Kyren Oglesby. “E.C. Glass, Broad Run, Varina, like, a lot of elite players on those teams.”
On Saturday against Hampton, who hadn’t lost since the first game of their season, things went about as well as it possibly could have. The Judges hit three three-pointers in the first quarter, two of them by senior guard Isaiah Baxter. Baxter, who averaged about six points per game in the regular season, scored eight points in the first quarter as the Judges took a 17-13 lead.
“I think they didn’t have respect for me, honestly.” Baxter said. “I guess they’ve watched film or whatever they did and they looked at the players around me and thought he’s just doing the dirty work…I did what I knew I could do.”
With the lead, John Handley (24-5) was able to slow the game down and execute Harrell-Zook’s game plan. That was to space the floor and let big guard-forwards Christian Dinges and Oglesby handle the ball and draw out Hampton’s size to the perimeter.
“We needed the commitment of all five to go rebound the basketball…we were ‘gonna outlet off misses, try to get the ball to Christian or Kyren to bring it up…stretch the floor,” said Harrell-Zook.
“And then pull ’em out, bring ’em out. They have to come out and play, that big kid [Hampton 6’8″ center Gavin Kay] is a really, really good player and if we’re just leaving him around the rim, he’s going to block shots. The biggest thing is they [our players] executed, it worked.”
It absolutely worked. The game slowed down, and at halftime Handley led 24-18. Hampton, known for its defensive pressure, only forced one turnover in the entire half.
“This was a team that understood what we were trying to do, especially on defense, they could make us come out and chase ’em a little bit,” said Crabbers coach Eric Brown.
In the second half the Crabbers (26-2) did manage to put better defensive pressure on the Judges, but Harrell-Zook’s team was ready for it. Dinges scored eight straight points attacking the rim from the perimeter, expanding Handley’s lead to double-digits.
Then it was really just Handley picking and choosing when it wanted to attack the rim and when it wanted to make the Crabbers chase and burn clock. Hampton did get as close as eight near the end of the third quarter on a layup by Kay, but two Baxter free throws made it 37-27 going into the final quarter.
A Braun-Duin three-pointer opened the fourth quarter, and Hampton never got that close again. Three-point shooting was a big factor in the game–Hampton was only 4-20 from behind the arc, while Handley was 7-15 on the afternoon.
Dinges led the Judges with 18 points, while Baxter finished with 14. Braun-Duin added 13, as did senior guard Jaevon Brisco, a Virginia Union commit, who buried three three-pointers.
After the game the celebration was on for the coaches, players, and the scores of fans who made the trek down from northwest Virginia. Harrell-Zook, hired in 2000 at just 23 years old, had a simple message about he and his players’ journey.
“If you believe in something, and you give it everything that you have, you can bring it to life.”
–Chris Jollay