By Mike McClure
After a tight first quarter, Woodbridge took an 18 point lead in the second quarter of last Thursday’s varsity boys’ basketball game in Laurel. The Bulldogs moved within 14 on a buzzer-beating three-pointer at the end of the first half and then tied things up at the end of the third before winning, 67-64.
“We’re trying to win the South. That was a really big win,” said Khalid Burton, who scored a game-high 33 points for Laurel. “We attacked the ball the whole game.”
Woodbridge’s Ivray Sauls had a basket, a steal, and an assist to help his team take a 6-2 lead early on.
Burton and Brynnen “Buggy” Thompson each scored a basket and Jeremiah Mizzelle Hopkins made a free throw for a 7-6 Bulldogs’ advantage.
The Raiders’ TaSean Williams-Conway scored four points to give his team the lead before Burton hit a three-pointer off a feed from Za-Bryan Eley to knot the score at 10-10. Williams-Conway converted a three-point play for a 13-10 Woodbridge lead after one.
Williams-Conway led the Raiders with seven points in the quarter. Burton had five and Thompson added four for the Bulldogs.
Woodbridge’s Kamryn DeShields scored four points including a three-pointer and dished out an assist to extend the lead to 20-14 early in the second quarter. Sauls netted six points and DeShields had three points and an assist for an 18 point Blue Raiders’ lead.
Burton hit two three-pointers including a buzzer-beater to make the score 38-24 at the half. Burton led the Bulldogs with 17 first half points including 12 in the second quarter. Sauls scored 12 points in the half (10 in the second quarter), DeShields netted nine, and Williams-Conway added eight first half points.
“We played real lazy,” Burton said of Laurel’s first half play.
“He (coach Joseph Wenke) knew we play Woodbridge better than that,” added Eley, who teamed up with Burton to help set the tone for the Bulldogs in the second half.
Laurel scored the first eight points of the second half to move within six as Burton scored four points and dished out and assist and Eley had four points and a steal. Williams-Conway answered with four straight points to make the score 42-32.
The Bulldogs came back with nine straight points for a one point game. Thompson made a basket off a feed from Eley, Burton had a putback on Thompson’s foul shot miss and scored off a steal, and Ashton Ayres-Lucas made a three-pointer off an assist from Mizzelle Hopkins.
Sauls scored four points late in the quarter, but Ayres-Lucas had a steal and basket and a feed to Thompson and Thompson made a free throw tie the score at 46-46 going into the fourth.
Burton tallied eight points and Thompson and Ayres-Lucas each had five points in the quarter. Williams-Conway and Sauls each had four third quarter points, accounting for the Raiders’ only points of the quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Burton scored four points, Eley made three of four free throws, and Thompson scored off a feed from Ayres-Lucas to make the score 56-49 with 5:18 remaining.
Sauls netted four points to move Woodbridge within four. Following a basket by Burton, Sauls hit a jumper and Williams-Conway buried a three-pointer off a feed from Mehki Everett to make it 60-58. Everett and DeShields each scored a field goal off a steal to knot the score with 1:05 left.
Thompson converted a three-point play off a feed from Eley and DeShields made a pair of free throws, leading to a Laurel timeout with 21.9 seconds left. Laurel had the ball with a one point lead and was able to beat the Woodbridge press, leading to a basket by Thompson off an assist from Burton. The Raiders took a timeout with 12 seconds remaining but was unable to score and the Bulldogs won the home contest, 67-64.
“It’s like Shaq in the 90s,” Burton said of Thompson.
“He cleans us up real good,” added Eley.
Burton netted eight of his 33 points in the final quarter, Thompson added nine points in the quarter and 19 in the game to go along with seven rebounds, two steals, and three blocks. Burton added three steals; Eley had eight points, five rebounds, and six assists; Ayres-Lucas contributed six points, five rebounds, four assists, and four steals; and Mizzelle Hopkins added four assists, three steals, and two blocks
Sauls tallied 24 points including eight in the fourth; Williams-Conway had 17 points and two steals; DeShields added 11 points, five assists, and three steals despite playing with a wrist injury; and Everett chipped in with five assists and two steals. Raiders’ senior starter Malachi Hayes exited the game in the first half after suffering an ankle injury.
