BACKED DOWN: GW boys throttle Chatham in second half

CHATHAM — For 16 minutes on Wednesday night, the Chatham High boys basketball team battled George Washington toe-to-toe.

The second half, however, was a dramatically different story.

The Eagles, who are ranked fifth in this week’s Associated Press Group AAA state poll, torched the Cavaliers for 63 points in the second half and cruised to a 96-65 victory in a non-district game.

“We started playing GW basketball,” said Eagles coach Bobby Martin, “picked the energy up, starting moving the basketball around, getting the ball inside. We hadn’t played since Friday and had a holiday, a snow day — and sometimes you get a little rusty, mentally rusty. … We got it going the second half.”

Chatham (8-7) actually led 14-12 late in the first quarter before GW (13-1) embarked on a 10-0 run to grab the lead for good. Chris Harben scored 12 points in the opening half to keep the Cavs within striking distance, but C.J. Barksdale had 15 for the Eagles, enabling them to take a 33-25 advantage into the locker room at the intermission.

GW came out firing in the third quarter, outscoring Chatham 22-9 in the first four minutes of the period and extending its lead to 55-34. The Eagles tallied 33 points in the quarter, matching their output for the entire first half. Chris White hit three 3-pointers in the period and Barksdale added 11 points.

“Our focus in the second half wasn’t as strong as it was in the first half,” said Chatham coach Barry Mayo. “We adjusted to GW’s pressure. You’ve got to be ready for it, get guys in the right positions. (But) guys weren’t getting open. That’s the one thing that really kind of hurt us that second half.”

“We made a couple adjustments at halftime,” Martin said. “The key was to go inside first.”

The Eagles went to their bench in the fourth quarter, but the onslaught continued. By the time it was over, 14 GW players figured in the scoring column, led by Barksdale with 26 and White 17. Stephen Coles joined them in double figures with 10.

“That’s the reason why I play them,” Mayo said. “I play them for reasons of us getting better. Our kids, they have the ability to play with anybody. They see these (GW) guys during the summer, they see them around, they know them. GW knows our kids. When it comes down to it, when you’ve got 12, 13 deep, it’s a blessing to have. But we’re trying to build our program to where we can have just as deep of a bench as they have.”   

Harben finished with a game-high 27 points for the Cavs, while Pierre Ferrell and Solomon Witcher each had 11.

GW ended up with a 36-26 rebounding advantage after Chatham held a 17-16 edge on the glass in the opening half.

The Eagles will host Franklin County on Friday night, while the Cavs travel to Altavista.