CUMBERLAND — Seven days ago against WVU Potomac State College, the Allegany College men’s basketball team had 10 players available and 14 on the roster.
In exactly one week, the number dwindled in half, as the Trojans (9-13, 7-7 NJCAA Region 20) took the floor with seven players against Hagerstown on Saturday at Bob Kirk Arena.
Alex Byrd and Jaylen Brown played the entire game, and despite Byrd’s game-high 34 points and multiple rallies, ACM came up short in an 82-71 loss.
“Too many simple errors against a good basketball team,” ACM head coach Tommie Reams said. “I think we were tabbed with 17 turnovers. I thought every big turnover that swung the tide, it was that crucial moment we’d cut the game down, and then we’d over pass or we’d run into a bad trap area.”
The story of the game for the Trojans was the resiliency shown at multiple points throughout the afternoon.
The Hawks (13-8, 7-4 Region 20) opened the day on a 12-2 run, but ACM answered with eight unanswered points to cut the deficit to 12-10.
Hagerstown led from the start, but Allegany kept the score within 11 points until the final minute of the first half.
Deondre Mitchell, who scored 16 points, hit a fadeaway to push the Hawks lead to 41-30, then he came up with a steal that led to a layup for Tanyon Shaull.
With 59 seconds left, Shaull split a pair of free throws, extending Hagerstown’s lead to 44-30 at halftime.
The Hawks opened the second half on a 9-2 run as the Trojans struggled to find the bottom of the net.
After Byrd hit a stepback jumper with 19:04 left, Allegany missed its next eight shots from the field.
“That’s just basketball. I talk all the time about understanding the things we can control,” Reams said. “We can control our attitude, our effort on defense, how we cut, how we execute. We can never be in 100% control of that basketball going through the hoop.”
Justin Turner hit a 3-pointer with 13:26 to play to snap the drought, but Hagerstown had stretched the lead to 20, 55-35.
With 8:46 remaining, Tristan Cook hit a triple that put the Hawks in front 65-48.
Cook finished with 14 points and a steal.
In less than a minute, the Trojans cut the deficit to 65-53 after Byrd buried a 3-pointer at the top of the key.
Byrd scored 23 points in the second half and finished with 34 points, nine rebounds, four steals and three blocks.
“He’s had a really good spring semester,” Reams said. “A lot of that has been the challenge on him to keep growing and expanding his game. He’s not only developing as a player, he’s developing as a mental side player. Better IQ wise, making better decisions, giving the ball up earlier to get the ball back late.”
Hagerstown answered with a 15-6 run to stretch the lead to 80-59 with 3:48 to play.
“I think that comes down to our kids heart,” Reams said of the ability to get back into the game. “We talked a lot about with us only having seven healthy bodies right now that it could be really easy to make excuses or look for the easy way out. Our guys have really risen to the challenge of not backing down or avoiding the adversity in their face.”
Daniel Nwaete finished with 11 points off the bench, adding five rebounds and two steals.
Mason Sword scored 20 points with six rebounds while Joede Mebane added 11 points and five rebounds for the Hawks.
Against Potomac State last Saturday, the Trojans played 10 players and had nine of the 10 play at least 12 minutes.
Since then, several players were injured including several with season-ending injuries.
In response, Reams added four athletes from other sports to join the team.
Konner Pittman, Antonio Fornadel and Dylan Adams joined from the baseball team while Levi Carrington also plays baseball and soccer.
None of the four additions played on Saturday, but Reams said they were available.
Carrington is a Calvary graduate who was second in the area last season with 9.4 rebounds per game.
He finished in the top 10 in scoring (16.6), steals (2.8) and assists (3.3), earning a honorable mention All-Area selection.
“Levi’s a big body, he’s every bit of 6-6, if not 6-7,” Reams said. “Adds size and athleticism that we don’t have in that front line. Their all great kids, great competitors. Regardless of how they play, they’re gonna try to help us, not themselves.”
In the last meeting on Dec. 16, Hagerstown won 87-67 and led 50-34 at halftime.
“That game down in Hagerstown, it got out of hand quick,” Reams said. “Hagerstown put their boot on our throat in the first eight minutes. Tonight for this game to be much more competitive, it shows our seven guys are really growing as players. We just have to keep them going in the right direction.”
Allegany heads to Anne Arundel (3-11, 1-8 Region 20) on Monday at 7 p.m.