Instead of considering three star kids like Jay Henderson, are we better served by considering Wood or has that ship permanently sailed? He can shoot, but perhaps doesn't slash enough. Ha
GREAT BEND - With a nasty gash near his right thumb, it's understandable that Hutchinson Community College freshman guard Darrick Wood struggled with his shooting Wednesday.
Wood admitted he had to learn to shoot with the right hand padded, but he never lost confidence after missing all but one first-half shot and scoring just two points.
Wood's shooting quickly heated up to the point of boiling in the second half, as he scored 23 second-half points in No. 15 Hutchinson's 98-85 win against Barton at the Barton Gym.
After going 1 of 6 in the first half, and then missing his first two shots in the second half, Wood made nine of his final 10 field goals and finished with a season-high 25 points.
"They always encourage me to keep shooting. It's what I do," Wood said, referring to his teammates. "In practice, when I'm struggling, they tell me to keep shooting. In the second half, I took what the defense gave me. They dared me to shoot it, so I was like, 'OK.'"
HCC coach Steve Eck said Wood making a couple mid-range shots turned his fortune in the second half.
"I told Darrick to be more patient and move the ball a little," Eck said. "Maybe if he can get the ball inside, he can get some 10-to-15 footers. When you make those, the 3-point shot doesn't seem as tough."
Wood was far from only Blue Dragon to struggle in the first half. Hutchinson (19-3, 5-1 Jayhawk West) led for most of the half, but Barton repeatedly crashed the offensive glass, and by securing 17 first-half offensive rebounds was able to score 16 points. That helped the Cougars (15-7, 3-3) take a 40-35 lead at halftime, a lead that Barton coach Craig Fletchall thought could have been bigger.
"That's been the story of our season - we're a first-half club," Fletchall said. "But when went to halftime, I was scared because we missed some chip shots. We could have been up 10 or 12."
Barton increased its lead to seven points twice in the second half but never built on those. Soon after, Wood began his scoring spree, first by making a couple of those mid-range shots that Eck hoped Wood would take.
"Darrick was good because he got his confidence back," said sophomore guard Kadeem Allen, who scored 27 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, and shook off a late ankle injury that looked bad when it happened. "He made a couple big 3s in the second half. He really played good tonight."
Hutchinson also improved its rebounding, holding Barton to six second-half offensive rebounds.
After Barton out rebounded Hutchinson 28-22 in the first half, the Blue Dragons grabbed 30 second-half rebounds to Barton's 15.
"It was right there," Allen said, motioning to the locker room's dry-erase board. "It's erased now, but all we talked about at halftime was rebounding, rebounding, rebounding and going to the glass." Sophomore center Coreontae DeBerry, who had just one first-half rebound, dominated in the second half and finished with 17 points and 13 rebounds.
Still, even with the improved rebounding, Hutchinson couldn't catch up with Barton for most of the second half. Finally, Wood's long 3-pointer with 5:36 left tied the game 70-70. DeBerry's offensive rebound and put back gave Hutch the lead, and freshman guard Austin Budke's three-point play with 4:31 left gave Hutchinson a 75-70 cushion.
"I felt we brought the energy and more intensity in the second half," Wood said. "Once the lead changed, we were like, 'We're here. Let's get across the finish line.'"
Wood and Allen helped keep Barton at a distance by combining to score 19 points in the final 3:34. Darius Gibson helped keep Barton around by scoring nine of his 23 points in the final 4:22.
Allen brought a near silence to the gym when he went down in a heap with about three minutes left. He leaped to catch an inbounds pass and landed on a Barton player's ankle, twisting his own ankle.
Allen, who averages a conference-leading 28.6 points a game, lay on the floor for a couple minutes, as fans from both teams stood and looked on with concern. As Allen stood up, Fletchall said a couple words to Allen and patted him on the back of the head.
"I'm OK," Allen said with a smile after the game.
He returned to the game, to the relief of Hutchinson fans.
"He's a tough kid," Wood said. "I knew he'd come back."
HUTCHINSON 98, BARTON 85
HUTCHINSON (19-3, 5-1 Jayhawk West)