Second-half comeback propels Southern to region title over Mountain Ridge, 64-57 in OT

Mar. 3—FROSTBURG, Md. — Southern pulled off a comeback for the ages, outscoring Mountain Ridge 28-16 in the second half to force overtime before outscoring the Miners 16-9 in the extra frame to win the Class 1A West Region I championship on Wednesday night.

Four Rams accounted for 61 of their points, as Ethan Glotfelty led with a game-high 18, including seven during overtime, to collect a 64-57 win. Isaac Upole tacked on 17, while Gabe Hebb and Tanner Haskiell scored 13 apiece.

"I think what happened is our bad start was maybe their execution and they made shots, so credit to them to get us down at the (end of the first) quarter," said Southern head coach Tom Bosley. "What happened is we were able to start scoring. We tried to get Isaac involved earlier. They did a nice job of taking that away.

"They were very well-prepared for what we tried to do. I thought we were well-prepared for what they tried to do. Except, in the end, some people fouled out and that gave us opportunities to expose them in places that isn't normal for them for the year. I thought it was a really good high school basketball game."

"Played well, played hard," Mountain Ridge head coach Dave Hobel said of his team's performance. "We gave that game away, I did as a coach. I did a poor job at the end. We didn't get beat, we gave the game away, and that was on me."

Haskiell led the comeback in the fourth quarter with seven points, with back-to-back layups to get the Rams to within three, 44-41, at the 3:40 mark.

The Miners' lead sat at five, 48-43, with just over two minutes to play as Hebb swiped the ball near midcourt and got a layup to fall to make it a one-possession game.

"He took a couple of ill-advised shots, but if you can get to the hole like he can, it's hard to separate those that are good and bad all the time," Bosley said of Hebb.

Mountain Ridge's lead stayed at three with 32.8 seconds left when Nathaniel Washington came down with a rebound. A nearby referee called a technical foul as they ruled that Washington signaled for a timeout — the Miners called their last timeout 16 seconds prior — with a defender on him in the backcourt.

"Just two teams playing," Hobel said. "We knew we had some really good looks, didn't make our shots. We have the game. We get our stops, up three, 30 seconds left, and then a guy makes a call that hasn't been made in forever.

"Our kids did everything they needed to do, and we just at the end there, we get the stop, we got the rebound, up three, and this guy makes a call that just ... you don't make that call. But that loss is on me, that's not on the kids. They played hard, they worked well and we got good looks."

Glotfelty sank the back end of the technical foul shots, and Upole drove the lane on the ensuing possession and was fouled. The senior sank both at the line to tie the game at 48 apiece with 12.9 seconds to play.

"We were never in panic mode," Bosley said. "Our kids were so excited and paying attention to detail and paying attention to the halftime huddle. If you would've looked at their mannerisms, you would've thought we were ahead. They were fine with their mental approach.

"I think the Mountain Ridge kids had one heck of a year. They're No. 1 in the region. ... That was a good win for us. And it would've been a good win for them. I hate that it ended (that way), but we knew they didn't have any timeouts because we had just talked about it. We talked about strategically using ours."

Both teams had a chance to take the lead before the buzzer, but Amare Kennedy was called for a charge — his fifth foul of the game — with 3.8 seconds left and Upole's ensuing half-court shot at the buzzer fell short.

Upole got a runner to fall 38 seconds into overtime that gave the Rams the lead for good.

After a Washington free throw, Glotfelty hit a 3-pointer in the left corner to push the score to 53-49.

After Colin Lowry answered with a layup, Jared Haskiell knocked down a 3-pointer on his only shot of the night with 2:08 to go for a 56-51 advantage.

"Probably the worst shot he's taken (all year)," Bosley said of the NBA-range 3-pointer. "When it went in, I was smiling because I was thinking, 'There is a God.'"

Washington was called for two quick fouls less than a minute later and fouled out.

Upole made both free throws at 1:29 after Washington exited, but Bryce Snyder answered with a jumper in the corner to keep Mountain Ridge's deficit at four, 58-54, with 35 ticks left.

After a pair of Upole freebies, Lowry hit a 3-pointer in the corner with 15 seconds to go to get Mountain Ridge back to within three, 60-57.

From there, the Rams sealed the deal at the charity stripe, as Glotfelty, who scored seven points in the overtime period, went 4 for 4 over the final 13 seconds to secure the victory.

"He got caught up in his defensive inabilities and then got scored on, didn't box out," Bosley said of Glotfelty. "But he sure helped us down the stretch, didn't he? He deserved the victory."

Peyton Miller and Washington led the way for the Miners, with 16 and 14 points, respectively. The duo combined for 18 of Mountain Ridge's 20 first-quarter points, as the Miners were off and running with a 20-9 lead at the end of one.

Southern chipped away at its deficit in the second, getting as close as seven, 24-17, when Hebb had back-to-back trips to the foul line and sank all four shots.

The Miners responded with an offensive rebound putback by Bryce Snyder before Kennedy converted a traditional three-point play for a 12-point advantage.

Glotfelty responded with a 3-pointer with 35 ticks left before halftime, but Washington had one more trick up his sleeve before the break. With a marginal difference between the shot and game clocks, Washington threw up a shot that was blocked by Tanner Haskiell. Washington grabbed the loose ball, got Haskiell to bite on a pump fake, then got a 3-pointer to fall as the shot clock expired and with two seconds-and-counting on the game clock, as the Miners went to the locker room with a 32-20 lead.

Mountain Ridge took a 42-34 lead into the fourth, as Upole's free throws with 12.9 seconds left tied the game for the first time since tip-off. The Rams didn't hold a lead until Upole's runner at 3:22 in the overtime period.

Mountain Ridge's season ends at 18-4, with, like Southern, much of their production graduating this year.

"Overall, both teams played hard," Hobel said. "Congratulations to Southern."

It was just over a week ago that Southern was almost run off its own home court against Notre Dame in a 65-46 loss in the Rams' regular-season finale. Since then, Bosley's players have collected two inspired wins, including a 56-49 win over Allegany on Monday to reach Wednesday's game.

"Our schedule allows us to succeed in these situations," Bosley said. "Our kids believe in the system. They believe in the program. They believe in our community. How about our crowd tonight? It was an amazing crowd and our following never gives up on us. Even when we're not as good. We're reaping the benefits of scheduling."

The Rams (13-8) will hit the road to take on a "loaded" Edmondson-Westside team, as Bosley put it, in a state quarterfinal matchup tomorrow at 5 p.m.

Kyle Bennett is a sports reporter for the Cumberland Times-News. Follow him on Twitter @KyleBennettCTN.