CUMBERLAND — Allegany College of Maryland led by 18 points late in the second half on Saturday against CCBC Catonsville at Bob Kirk Arena.
In most games, this would result in a comfortable win for the Trojans (17-3, 7-1 Region 20).
However, the Cardinals (12-7, 6-3 Region 20) came to play, cutting it to single digits in the final minute.
Despite a late rally, it was too little too late as Allegany held on to win 86-76.
“It’s tough, we made it harder than what it was,” Allegany assistant coach Shane Scott said. “We came in with the right game plan. We had a heck of a scout from the head coach, it was all about trying to diagram it and run it.”
Scott filled in as head coach for Tommie Reams. In ACM’s previous game against CCBC Dundalk, Reams received a technical foul. Since the Trojan bench also received two technical fouls, Reams was unable to coach on Saturday.
The Catonsville coaches were furious about the officiating for most of the second half. With 10:54 left, they received a technical foul for complaining.
Tyson Oghene made both technical free throws, then made another pair from the foul that led to the technical.
It put ACM up 57-45 and began about a six minute run that ended with the Trojans up 73-55 with 4:54 remaining.
Oghene scored 10 of the 18 points during the run. It was part of a 16-point second half performance that included three 3-pointers and going 6 of 7 at the free-throw line.
Oghene finished with 25 points with two rebounds and a steal.
Cam Brown was also key in the second half for the Trojans. He scored 11 points with four steals, three assists and two rebounds. He finished with 17 points, 10 assists and five steals.
“They’re dudes, they’re D1 kids,” Scott said of Oghene and Brown. “They see stuff before it happens. They’re very intelligent, they’re basketball players. That helps me and the coaching staff, having guys like that is huge.”
The run ended with a pair of 3-pointers from Lamont Jones and Jason Thomas with Thomas burying a triple to go up 18.
Jones finished with 14 points, four rebounds, a block and a steal.
Catonsville wasn’t done, however, responding with a 16-6 run over the next four minutes to cut the deficit to 79-71 with 36 seconds left.
“That was a scary part,” Scott said. “But with the trust in the guys that we have, we have scorers, we have dudes. We have a heck of a point guard, trust in him to get us in the right position.”
Micah Morgan led the Cardinals during the run with eight points, three assists and three steals. He finished with 16 points, eight assists and three steals.
Thomas hit a layup with about 20 seconds left in response to push the Allegany lead back up to 10 points, sealing the win.
At the start of the second half, the Trojans led 41-30, and had a double-digit lead for most of the half, but the Cardinals kept finding ways to keep themselves in the game.
“That’s what they do, they’re scrappy, they’re gonna play till the end of the whistle,” Scott said. “That’s one thing we knew about them. You could see it, they’re gonna make their runs. It’s one thing about that team, they’re gonna make their runs because they play hard.”
While Catonsville struggled offensively to hold on to the ball, committing 18 turnovers with 10 in the second half, the defense made sure Allegany also had issues with ball security.
The Trojans committed nine turnovers in the second half compared to only four before halftime.
At the start of the game, the Cardinals ran a very fast pace offense, utilizing a lot of fast breaks and looking for a shot within about five seconds.
At first, Allegany had some issues keeping up with the tempo, but midway through it was able to start to slow it down.
“In certain ways it hurt us because we’re so used to trying to run our sets,” Scott said. “Our sets work, but at times I told them to play free and be themselves. They took what the defense gave them. There were times they looked over at me and I said, if you see something, just go.”
This helped the Trojans extend the lead to 20-11 with 12:13 left on a layup by Ron Brown off an Oghene assist.
Brown scored 10 points with three rebounds and a steal.
Catonsville cut it to 26-22, but a 15-8 run to end the half gave the Trojans their 11-point halftime lead.
“It helped a lot,” Scott said of slowing down the pace. “We were out of sync, the chemistry wasn’t there. We were pretty much coming down one and done and guys were over selfish so that actually kind of helped.”
Jeremiah Mobley wasn’t eligible for Allegany for the first part of the season. Since making his debut earlier this month, he’s been a key addition to the rotation.
He entered the game averaging 14.4 points per game in five games and scored 11 on Saturday with four assists and two steals.
“He’s a New York kid, if you don’t know anything about New York kids, they play hard,” Scott said. “They don’t back down from nothing. They feel they can do it all.”
Jo-Nathan Kelly led Catonsville with 21 points, five rebounds and a steal. Albright Obode scored 17 with seven rebounds and a block.
The Trojans entered Saturday after a tough 91-88 loss to CCBC Essex that snapped a nine-game winning streak.
“It was good, they still had the bad taste in their mouth,” Scott said. “It was good to come back and get back on another good streak. That game, it hurt, but at the same time it’s a learning experience.”
Allegany faces Harcum on Tuesday at 7 p.m. on the road. The Bears (17-4) beat the Trojans in both regular season meetings last year, but ACM won the rematch in the District 3 semifinal.