Boys hoops: Defense, Thomas, Barbosa spur StoneBridge

There’s no question about it, StoneBridge coach Cal Woolard likes what he sees.

“We keep playing like this, we’ll win the state title,” the Cavaliers’ coach said after StoneBridge thrashed Metro Conference rival Portsmouth Christian 68-43 on its own floor Friday night.

StoneBridge worked a 1-2-2 zone to near-perfection and got 28 points from Ryan Barbosa and 24 from Julius Thomas as it improved to 15-6 overall and 6-0 in the Metro.

Winning a VIS Division III title is one thing, winning the Metro is something else, however. Waiting to take on the Cavaliers on Jan. 26 for undisputed possession of first place is Atlantic Shores, ranked No. 10 in South Hampton Roads and also unbeaten in the conference.

StoneBridge players have been trying not to think about that game, but now that it is only a week away, visions of Seahawks are dancing in their heads.

“After exams next week, it will be time to go to work,” said Thomas. “Atlantic Shores is the big game. They’re the big dogs.”

Portsmouth Christian (9-6, 4-2) was a big game, too. There’s an intense rivalry between the schools and it was reflected in a rough-and-tumble affair that was still competitive early in the third quarter.

But that’s when the Cavaliers started putting some distance between themselves and the home team. Barbosa, who averages 26 points a game, and Thomas combined for 14 points in the period on a mix of drives and threes as StoneBridge roared to a 47-30 advantage by the end of the frame.

“Julius really played within himself tonight,” said Woolard. “He’s a slasher. But once he gets his confidence going, he’ll step outside.

“Ryan always plays like this. But if we ran our offense to force the ball to him, we wouldn’t do as well. He has to come to the offense. Tonight he had a hand in his face the whole game. We had to do other things.”

Among them was to play stout defense.

“We played defense from start to finish,” said Woolard.

“Coach had us use a 1-2-2 zone to stop the two Fuhrmanns (Zach and Chris) on the outside,” said Thomas. “Everybody did a great job cutting off the penetration and rebounding.” The Fuhrmanns finished with a combined 19 points. The Cavalier zone was so effective that Portsmouth Christian scored only five baskets inside the three-point line.

Barbosa and Thomas weren’t the whole show for StoneBridge. Robert Coggins and Brian Palmer chipped in with eight points apiece and Wesley Carroll had four steals and five assists.

But that wasn’t the end of things that Woolard like about the victory.

“We only had eight turnovers,” he said. “You can win most of the time if that’s all you have.”