By Dave Morrison
Shady Spring’s Ammar Maxwell knew his time was at hand.
After watching Woodrow Wilson’s Coby Dillon nail two big 3s to pull the Flying Eagles to within 40-38 in the third quarter Friday in championship game of the Little General Battle for the Armory, he did what you’d expect from the only current player in the state to start in three state championship games.
He took over.
Maxwell had 11 points in a 12-0 game-altering run to give the Tigers their fifth straight victory over the Flying Eagles, ironically on the fourth anniversary of Shady’s first win against Woodrow Wilson after 78 straight losses in the ancient series.
That was my moment,” Maxwell said. “I’m built for these moments. If I’m a big player, one of the best players in the state, I felt like it had to be my moment and I felt I could score whenever I wanted.”
His sidekick Jack Williams said it this way:
“When stiff gets hard you go to your best player and Ammar is our best player,” Williams said. “He’s the best player in the state in my opinion. You’ve got to get him the ball. He’s a man. He’s a great player.”
And he took control when he had to take control.
Maxwell had 25 points in 10 of 18 shooting and eight rebounds, and Williams added 25 points and seven rebounds as the Tigers improved to 4-1
“Their two vets just took the game over at that point,” Woodrow Wilson coach Ron Kidd said. “Williams and Ammar just took the game completely over. It’s that veteran presence and having the will, the heart to win the game.”
Shady Spring coach Ronnie Olson has seen it for four years now.
“Ammar is so smart when it comes to basketball, he knew we needed him in those moments,” Olson said. “We felt like they didn’t have an answer for Ammar, we felt like we had an edge in that component, just like they felt like they probably had an edge on us with Zy (Hawthorne). He is a very tough mismatch because he can play inside and outside. We felt he would have big-time points and a big time impact on the game and he did. When we needed him he took over and that’s what good players do. Big-time player, man.”
Dillon had 22 for Woodrow, including six 3 pointers, Zyon Hawthorne added 17 and Peston Clarey. The three guards combined for all but four points.
Williams was in eighth grade when the Tigers started their streak against Woodrow Wilson.
“It’s special, it really is,” Williams said. “Four years ago we were 0-for-however-many-games against Woodrow. To be able to comet here and play against them is great.”
Maxwell is now 5-0 against Woodrow Wilson in his career.
“Woodrow is our rivalry now,” Maxwell said. “They say Independence is, but that’s an old rivalry.We just had t come out here and show them who owned the Armory and that’s what we did,”
Kidd know what his team must do to turn the tide when the two teams meet again at Shady Spring.
“When it’s close, we have do the right things, like they did when it got close,” Kidd said. “Our kids have got to make the right pass, take the right shot and make sure we take care of the ball. We’ve to to be smarter than we were.”
When Olson took the Shady Spring job in 2016, he pointed at Woodrow Wilson, where he started his career as a player, as the blueprint.
“We have the utmost respect for them,” Olson said. “That program has what 15 (16) banners? That’s incredible. To ply that program, in the Armory, that’s mystique. If you grow up around here, you know what it means. To us it matters. To our guys it matters. To people who went to Shady, played for Shady, are alumni of Shady, and didn’t even play, want that rivalry. And we didn’t even win (a game) for 60 years.”
Both are back in action at the Armory in next week’s New River CTC, Shady playing Westside Tuesday at 8 p.m. and Woodrow takes on Musselman out of the Eastern Panhandle Wednesday at 6:15 p.m.
Shady Spring 66, Woodrow 52
Shady Spring
Jack Williams 8-15 6-9 25, Ammar Maxwell 10-18 5-7 25, Brody Radford 0-2 1-4 1, Gavin Davis 3-4 0-0 6, Khi Olson 0-4 0-0 0, Jalon Bailey 3-6 2-2 9, Eli Jordan 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 24-49 14-22 66
Woodrow Wilson
Coby Dillon 8-13 0-0 22, Zyon Hawthorne 4-18 7-7 16, Andre Thomas 0-0 0-0 0, Preston Clary 4-6 -1 10, Nazir King 1-2 0-0 2, Drew Fitzwater 0-1 0-0 0, Phillip Law 0-1 0-0 0, Jaylon Walton 0-1 2-2 2. TOTALS: 17-42 10-10 52.
Three-point field goals – SS: 4-16 (Williams 3-6, Maxwell 0-1, Radford 0-1, Davis 0-1, Olson 0-4, Bailey 1-3). WW: 8-21 (Dillon 6-9, Hawthorne 1-9, Clary 1-2, Fltzwater 0-1). Rebounds: SS: 24 (Maxwell 8, Williams 7). WW: 24 (Walton 7), Fouled out – WW: King, Fitzwater.
