No. 2 Allegany dominant in 70-27 win over Southern

Jan. 7—CUMBERLAND — No. 2 Allegany was dominant from the start in a 70-27 home victory over Southern on Friday night.

"We continue to get better each game," Allegany head coach Tedd Eirich said. "Our defense keeps improving each game, our offense keeps improving."

The Campers (10-1, 3-0 WestMAC) never trailed and led by 40 points after three quarters. The Rams (3-4, 0-2 WestMAC) cut it to two points in the first quarter but were unable to get any closer.

"There's nothing to take away, it's a 40-point loss," Southern head coach Tom Bosley said. "I've got two of those this year, I haven't done that in my career."

Allegany scored the first nine points of the game, six coming off of steals. Blake Powell opened the game with four steals in the first two minutes and had five in the quarter. The Campers combined for 15 steals in the game.

"All these guys get after it and get steals," Eirich said. "It's good team defense, it's not just an individual going out one on one getting steals. It's getting up in passing lanes so that's what makes me feel good."

It took Southern until the 5:07 mark to get on the scoreboard when Jared Haskiell hit a 3-pointer. The Rams went on a run midway through the quarter and scored seven unanswered points, cutting their deficit to 9-7, but Allegany responded with a 13-2 run to end the quarter.

"Credit to them, they made shots," Bosley said. "They made it difficult for us to get good shots."

The Rams offense continued to struggle in the second quarter as they scored only two points in the first three minutes of the period. Allegany opened the quarter on a 10-3 run to lead 32-12.

"We're doing something a little bit different this year," Eirich said. "It's taken us a while to get the little intricacies of the offense down. I think the kids are picking up on it. Once they do that, we can add little extra things to it."

The Rams hit a couple shots to end the half with the Campers leading 39-18. Isaiah Fields and Caiden Chorpenning combined for 25 points in the half.

"Chorpenning presents us a problem that not everybody does," Bosley said. "He's got size, but can also shoot it as well as he does. Everyone with size gives us some fits, that's a tough matchup."

Southern was held to single digit scoring in all four quarters. The Rams combined for 12 points in the second and third quarters.

"The hustle we have, our kids fly all around the court," Eirich said. "You can tell they love playing defense. It's their energy, they thrive on it. Anytime you've got kids who want to play defense, you're gonna be successful."

Chazz Imes opened the second half with back-to-back 3s to extend Allegany's lead to 49-18. Isaiah Keller came up with a steal and a fast break layup for Southern. The Rams were held scoreless for at least the next four minutes.

"Let's have a goal of having possession after possession that we run correctly." Bosley said of his message prior to the fourth quarter.

Leading 62-22 after three quarters, the fourth featured a running clock and several bench players by both teams. Landon Minke and Blaze Rotruck both scored to the approval of the Campers' student section and the Allegany bench.

"Landon and Blaze practice every day hard and they give us a good look every day," Eirich said. "It was really nice seeing Blaze and Landon get out there and shoot and run through the offense. Everybody was cheering for them which is a lot of fun."

For the Campers, Chorpenning led all scorers with 21 points. Fields had 14 and Dylan Shaffer 12.

"Dylan keeps getting better and better every day," Eirich said. "Last year, he didn't play a ton on JV. But everyday he comes out, does what you tell him. I'm happy with everyone's progress."

For the Rams, Keller led Southern with nine points. Noah Wilt scored eight and Haskiell had five.

"Noah's coming, he's getting better," Bosley said. "We expect Isaiah to score. There wasn't enough points for us to score tonight."

The Rams host rival Northern on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. The Campers travel to play Frankfort on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.

"We've got to get back to basics, and that's my responsibility," Bosley said. "Our offense doesn't exist today. It didn't exist against Uniontown. It was decent at Mountain Ridge. We gotta get back to the basics to give ourselves a chance."