CUMBERLAND — Down nine with less than five minutes remaining, all hoped seemed lost for Allegany College.
However, the Trojans once again showed what resiliency is, forcing overtime and rallying to win the Region 20 and East District championships, defeating Harford 62-58 on Saturday afternoon at Bob Kirk Arena.
“I said yesterday, heart was the big thing,” ACM head coach Tommie Reams said. “The words that came to mind tonight were discipline and will power. We played with a ton of heart, we were gutsy. When push came to shove, our discipline and will power to do the tough things in the right moments prevailed.”
Trailing 51-44 with 4:40 remaining, it felt like the Trojans (26-7) season was coming to an end.
But just like in Friday’s game against Monroe, Allegany stepped up when it mattered the most.
The Trojans went on an 8-3 run capped off by a Lamont Jones’ 3-pointer off a Cam Brown assist, cutting the deficit to 54-52 with 34.5 seconds left.
“Lamont was standing in front of me,” Reams said. “I said, ‘when we get this inbound, we wanna rim run’. As we starting running to the rim, I was standing close enough I was going ‘sit down, tell him to float to that wing’. All of a sudden, we get that catch and shoot that he’s hit all year for us.”
Jones was named to the Region 20/East District all-tournament team, scoring 16 points with six rebounds, two steals and a block on Saturday.
He averaged 17 points in the three tournament games.
The Fighting Owls (19-15) drew a foul, but missed both free throws.
Brown dove for a loose ball, and a jump ball favored Allegany.
On the ensuing inbound, Jeremiah Mobley stepped out of bounds on the catch.
The Trojans immediately fouled, but Donovan Miller missed both free throws.
With four seconds to go, Ty Williams also stepped out of bounds for a turnover.
On the ensuing inbound, Tyson Oghene passed to Brown. He sprinted down the court and scored a layup at the buzzer to force overtime tied at 54.
“The play wasn’t for me to go get the bucket,” Brown said. “I popped open to the ball. Ty’s always gonna trust me with the ball, just like I trust him. I got it, went coast-to-coast, everyone was spread out. I attacked the basket and just tried to get the layup.”
After the Owls missed a jumper to begin overtime, Brown set up Oghene for a layup to put Allegany up 56-54 with 4:03 left.
Harford missed a triple, and Brown hit a layup to go up four.
The Owls cut it to 58-56 on a pair of Jordan Butler free throws.
After turnovers by both teams, Mobley went coast-to-coast for a layup with 40.8 seconds remaining to put ACM up 60-56.
“Early in the game, he was the only reason we were in it,” Reams said. “Jeremiah has faced a lot of adversity in his career. For him to repetitively climb the mountain and seal the game for us, a special moment for all involved.”
Mobley was named the Region 20 and East District Tournament Most Valuable Player.
He scored 15 points in the second half and overtime and finished with a game-high 24, also adding six rebounds and two steals.
Mobley scored over 20 points in two of the three tournament games and averaged 20.3 points.
Chandler Johnson was immediately fouled and hit a pair at the line to make it a two-point game. He finished with 12 points and a steal.
Jones missed a layup, and the Owls held for a final shot. Miller’s 3-pointer was off the mark, and Jones was fouled with 1.1 seconds to go.
He iced the game with a pair at the line.
“At about the two-minute marker, we take a timeout in regulation,” Reams said. “Our bench goes, they’re tired. They could see that they had completely depleted the tanks. Our guys knew we still had a little bit extra in us.’
In the semifinal on Friday against Monroe, Allegany shot 28 of 57 (49%) from the field and 17 of 30 (56%) from deep and the Trojans tied a season high with 17 3-pointers led by Oghene’s seven.
On Saturday, Allegany shot 19 of 55 (34%) from the field and a season low 5 of 25 (20%) from deep.
The first half was a low scoring, defensive slugfest.
Neither team consistently hit shots. Both teams shot under 30% from the field in the first half.
“I thought Harford did an excellent job controlling the tempo,” Reams said. “I thought our guys did an excellent job being willing to defend for entire shot clocks, not just one or two passes.”
It was a one- or two-possession game the entire first half. The half featured three lead changes and three ties.
Allegany didn’t help itself at the line, shooting 9 of 16 (56%) in the first half and 19 of 29 (65%) overall.
The Trojans led 22-21 at halftime.
Williams scored 15 points with 10 rebounds and four steals.
Nate Lacey finished with 10 points and eight rebounds for Harford.
“The way their roster’s constructed, it reminds us of our own program,” Reams said. “Ty Williams, Chandler Johnson, small, quick, athletic guards. Get to spots, make things happen. A guy like Nate Lacey with that big physical frame in the middle to make stuff go. We knew we were a mirror image, we knew it was gonna be an absolute dogfight.”
The Trojans were named both the Region 20 champion and East District champion.
It’s the first district title since 2019 and the 14th overall for Allegany.
The Trojans lost to Monroe in last year’s district final 89-78.
“It means everything, a year ago when we were in this, I wasn’t really playing,” Mobley said. “After losing the championship game, to come back and win the championship game, it’s great.”
Allegany advances to the NJCAA Division I national tournament, beginning on Sunday, March 24 in Hutchinson, Kansas.
The matchups will be unveiled Sunday.
“Just an unbelievably special moment for those kids,” Reams said. “As soon as that buzzer goes off, you can see them storm the court and all their emotion. That’s because they know how much it takes for that one moment. A win is a moment, winning is the last six months of preparation. We’ve been preparing for that buzzer to go off for six months, a hundred-plus practices however many weight sessions and film work for that one moment. You can see that culmination of all that hard work pay off.”