CUMBERLAND — The Campers made some late mistakes that nearly cost them a win, but a clutch play in the final seconds led No. 1 Allegany to a 69-67 win over South Hagerstown on Wednesday in the opening game of the Bill Bowers Christmas Classic.
“I thought that was a great win,” Allegany head coach Tedd Eirich said. “That’s a very athletic South Hagerstown team. They just gave us fits the whole game with their quickness and athleticism. I thought that was a very good gage of where we’re at. I’m just thankful to get off the court with that win.”
Tied at 67 with 52 seconds left, the Campers (6-0) nearly had a pass inside stolen, but it went out of bounds and gave Allegany a second chance.
After the Campers missed a pair of free throws that would’ve given them the lead, Zach Michael grabbed a rebound on the second miss.
Free throws were a problem for Allegany, especially in the second half. The Campers shot 16 of 28 overall and 8 of 15 in the second half.
“We started off the year and we were very bad at shooting free throws,” Eirich said. “Then we started improving and tonight we went back to shooting terrible free throws.”
Michael passed to Isaiah Fields who found Dylan Shaffer who hit a layup with 1.6 seconds left for the go-ahead score.
“For us to shoot that bad from the foul line, have that many turnovers and still pull out a win, it’s a good win for us,” Eirich said.
Michael was key for Allegany in the fourth quarter. He scored nine of his 21 points in the final eight minutes.
“We missed Zach last year tremendously,” Eirich said. “We want to utilize him this year. With our guards coming back, it gives us a good mix of big and small.”
Tied at 51 after three quarters, the fourth quarter was a one-possession game for most of the quarter.
“We lost our fundamentals there for a while,” Eirich said. “We had no weakside help, we weren’t moving our feet very good on defense. If we have guys breaking down, it’s gonna break down the whole defense.”
The quarter featured four lead changes and three ties. The only moment it wasn’t a one-score game was with about four minutes left when Dae Dae Smith found Shaffer for a layup to go up 62-58.
The Rebels (2-5) tied the game on an and-one layup by Elijah Creary with 1:42 left and took the lead on a steal and layup by Lance Ford.
South Hagerstown controlled the tempo in the first quarter, opening on a 10-3 run.
Xavier Dree recorded a block and assisted on a layup for the Rebels. Dree led the Rebels with 21 points, adding four assists, three steals and a block.
“At the beginning of the game, what we were trying to see was if they were more athletic than us,” Eirich said. “We had to adjust our defensive philosophy compared to that. The thing I saw that I didn’t see before is they’re a better 3-point shooting team than I thought.”
Allegany responded with six unanswered points led by Michael who hit a pair of free throws and banked in a fadeaway.
The Campers kept it a two-possession game the rest of the quarter. With less than 10 seconds remaining, Fields pulled up and knocked down a 3-pointer to cut Alco’s deficit to 21-18 to end the quarter.
Fields scored 10 of his game-high 22 points in the first quarter. He also added three assists and a steal.
“Isaiah’s one of the most athletic kids on the court,” Eirich said. “He does his thing, attacks the basket well and makes his shots.”
The Campers offense opened the second quarter on a 9-4 run and took a 27-25 lead with 4:46 left.
Michael assisted Eli Imes on a 3-pointer, then hit a pair of layups to give Allegany the lead.
“I thought their quickness made us helter-skelter a little bit,” Eirich said. “We started getting our feet under us and getting used to their quickness. We eventually got our offense rolling and it helped us out a lot.”
Down 33-31, the Rebels scored the final points of the first half and took a 37-33 halftime lead.
Allegany’s offense kept the Campers in the game in the third quarter, outscoring South Hagerstown 18-12, and going into the fourth quarter tied at 51.
Creary and Lance Ford each scored 11 points for South Hagerstown. Ford added three steals and two assists while Creary had two assists.
South Hagerstown has an enrollment of about 1,500 students compared to about 800 at Allegany. The Rebels compete in Class 3A, two classes above the Campers.
“To beat a 3A team like that, it just puts another notch on their belt,” Eirich said. “It’s early in the season, we still got a lot to improve on. But a win this time of year is a win and we’ll take it.”