CUMBERLAND — Turnovers weren’t a factor for most of the game, until it mattered most.
No. 2 Allegany scored five points off turnovers in the fourth quarter, which ended up being the margin of victory, 59-54 over No. 5 Mountain Ridge on Tuesday.
“Gritty win, definitely wasn’t our best effort in terms of execution and shot making,” Allegany head coach Brandon Reed said. “It wasn’t for a lack of effort. They dug deep and found it at times.”
The Miners (4-4, 0-2 Western Maryland Athletic Conference) committed eight turnovers through the first three quarters, then gave up six in the final eight minutes.
“I thought we battled tonight,” Mountain Ridge head coach Tim Nightengale said. “We had a better effort tonight. Thought we did some good things, but in crunch time, we turned the ball over. You can’t turn the ball over, can’t give up second chance opportunities. That’s the difference in that game.”
Chris Manherz recorded a steal and scored a layup on the other end to put the Campers (8-2, 3-1 WestMAC) ahead 54-48 with 3:28 left.
Another steal from Landon Holliday led to a Sebastian Stewart put back to go back up six with 1:37 to play.
Holliday scored 11 points with two steals while Stewart added 10 points and a block.
“Sebastian Stewart on the rebounding end was huge, getting some offensive boards,” Reed said. “Those offensive boards allowed us to kill more time and get better looks and fouls.”
Manherz added a steal 12 seconds later and split a pair at the line to put Alco ahead 57-50 with 1:25 remaining.
Mountain Ridge outscored Allegany 14-13 in the fourth quarter, but the seven-point deficit was too much to overcome.
“They pressured us, and we just didn’t handle it well,” Nightengale said. “We did a good job throughout the game taking care of the ball. But whenever the pressure hit us, we didn’t handle it.”
The third quarter produced the most offense on both sides with the Campers outscoring the Miners 20-16, taking a 46-40 lead into the fourth.
Manherz scored 15 of his game-high 29 points in the third quarter with four 3-pointers.
Manherz also recorded seven assists and two steals.
“He definitely finds his shot more in the second half, it seems,” Reed said. “He takes what the defense is giving you. They were really sagging off and he started to find his rhythm. It was good seeing him knock down that many 3s.”
Brayden Glass scored eight of his 11 points in the third for Mountain Ridge.
Allegany led for the entire quarter but never led by more than nine points.
The Campers opened the game on a 13-8 run before the Miners answered with a 7-3 run to take a 16-15 lead after one.
“We played hard, we were looking to get to the basket,” Nightengale said. “I felt like we took some not very good 3-point opportunities whenever we should’ve been going to the basket. We could get those 3-balls at any time, but Allegany sped us up and forced us to take quick 3s.”
Cameron Breighner scored eight of his team-high 20 points in the opening eight minutes.
Breighner went the length of the floor for a layup with 4:40 left in the first half to put Mountain Ridge in front 23-22.
Breighner added a block and two assists while Kris Washington scored 13 points with six assists and two steals.
After Manherz answered on a fadeaway with 4:05 left in the half, Allegany never trailed the rest of the night.
The Campers led 26-24 at halftime, shooting 10 of 24 (42%) from the field while the Miners shot 9 of 23 (39%).
“It’s always our defense,” Reed said. “We take pride in our defense and rely on our defense to lead to our offense. Whenever we’re not getting stops, it changes our energy. I felt like we weren’t completely locked in on the defensive end.”
Alco won the junior varsity game 41-33 led by Kyran Freeman’s 11 points while Sawyer Elliott and Sam Patterson each scored 12 for Mountain Ridge.
The Miners host Northern (5-5, 0-3 WestMAC) on Wednesday before traveling to Tucker County (5-4) Friday.
Mountain Ridge won the first matchup with Tucker 62-58 in overtime on Dec. 12.
The Campers host No. 1 Southern on Friday.
The Rams (6-5, 3-0 WestMAC) won the first meeting 60-47 on Jan. 2.