Brunswick outlasts Southern, 52-50, despite Haskiell's 24
Dec. 10—CUMBERLAND — After losing nearly all of its production off its Area Championship-winning side of a year ago, Southern will take some lumps this year.
It took one on Friday evening.
Southern and Brunswick waged an all-out war for four quarters, with neither team leading by more than two points at the end of any period. Fittingly, it all came down to one final possession with the Rams trailing by two.
However, it wasn't meant to be, as the ball bounced loose well beyond the arc and Southern couldn't get a heave off, dooming the squad from Oakland to a 52-50 loss to Brunswick in its opener at the Bob Kirk Invitational Showcase at Allegany College of Maryland's Bob Kirk Arena.
"Anytime you lose you're disappointed," Southern head coach Tom Bosley said. "Especially if you lose by two, that's my job to make sure we don't lose close games.
"I thought our effort was great, we played hard, as inexperienced as we are at times. ... If you're going to lose to somebody, I like the coaches from that staff (at Brunswick). They're friends of mine."
Southern has a mountain to climb in 2022-23 having to replace the likes of Player of the Year Isaac Upole, All-Area first-teamer Gabe Hebb and honorable mention Ethan Glotfelty.
Jared Haskiell is the only returner with meaningful experience from that squad, and he made a splash in the season opener with a game-high 24 points.
Haskiell and Brunswick standout Garrett Bowie went shot-for-shot in the final moments. Haskiell leveled the tally at 44-all with a step-back 3-pointer with 3:31 left, but Bowie answered with one of his own.
Haskiell again tied it with a trey, and again, Bowie sunk the go-ahead triple on the other end.
The sophomore Southern sharpshooter dealt another blow, pump-faking to allow Bowie to fly by and drilling a long triple to knot it up at 50 with 1:05 left.
"Now he has to do more by himself," Bosley said of Haskiell and how his role has changed this year. "He'll accept that, he loves the game."
Brunswick forward Ethan Genos swished the go-ahead shot with a midrange pull-up, and Southern called a time-out to draw up a tying or winning bucket down 52-50 with 32.6 seconds left.
Southern couldn't get a shot off, but the Rams were afforded another chance with 6.7 seconds left after Bowie — who scored 11 points — missed the front end of a one-and-one.
Haskiell launched a half-court heave and there appeared to be some contact, yet he Rams didn't get the call to fall to 0-1.
"We weren't looking for anyone in particular, except Haskiell just hit three in a row," Bosley said of Southern's final possession. "We wanted to try to get it to him, but they knew that too. We just didn't get the ball in the places that we needed to. We got beat."
Brunswick led 11-9 after the opening period, and the Rams took a 23-21 edge into intermission. Isaiah Keller gave Southern its first lead of the second quarter with a corner three with 4:20 left in the half, and Haskiell sunk a 3-pointer of his own with a minute left to ensure the halftime lead.
The Railroaders upped the pressure out of the half with a full-court press to open the second half on a 10-0 run for a 31-23 lead. Ricky Cicmanec scored six points during the flurry and eight of his team-high 13 during the period.
Southern eventually cracked the press, and Keller scored an old-fashioned 3-point play to level the tally at 37-all with 15 seconds left. The Rams stole the ball on the other end of the floor, and Landon Grady went coast-to-coast for a bucket to grab a 39-37 edge entering the fourth.
Keller joined Haskiell in double-figures with 13 points.
The fourth quarter followed the same tight trajectory, but Southern ended up on the losing end of its first contest of the season.
Southern will look to get in the win column when it visits Frankfort (1-1) on Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
"We're very inexperienced in terms of returning varsity experience," Bosley said. "That will all be the learning curve in how we start and how we progress. Are we able to teach and get better? That's our responsibility.
"Rebounding hurt us. We don't have a lot of size, but we have to put bodies on people. That's once again on attention to detail, doing all the little things and being fundamental. I think we will get there."
Alex Rychwalski is a sports reporter at the Cumberland Times-News. Follow him on Twitter @arychwal.
