CUMBERLAND — No. 1 Fort Hill went from trailing by eight with six minutes remaining to an eight-point comeback victory, defeating Mountain Ridge 75-67 on Monday night.
“We won the game, I think that was the most important thing,” Fort Hill head coach Thad Burner said. “I think we played really hard in the fourth quarter. Prior to that, I don’t know how hard we played, but I thought we got the job done late.”
The Sentinels (16-2, 5-1 WestMAC) were led by Mikey Allen who scored 14 fourth quarter points and made several clutch plays late in the game. The Miners (7-10, 2-5 WestMAC) made several costly mistakes in the final minutes.
“I felt it was a gutsy effort from our kids,” Mountain Ridge head coach Tim Nightengale said. “Our kids battled, played really hard against the number one team in the area. Executed our game plan well, in crunch time Fort Hill’s quickness forced us into turnovers. We talk about prizing every possession, in the fourth quarter half of our possessions were turnovers. Against a good team in a close game, you gotta be able to take care of the ball.”
Allen entered the game averaging 22 points per game. He was held to three in the first quarter and nine in the first half. He was primarily guarded by Uma Pua’auli.
“Uma’s always gonna be playing the other team’s best player,” Nightengale said. “He did a great job limiting him and we had other players to help Uma whenever he needed help. The kids did a great job executing our defensive plan.”
Deshaun Brown and Owen Seifarth stepped up for Fort Hill in the first half. They combined for 21 of the Sentinels first half points.
“Deshaun carried us through the game,” Burner said. “We were grasping for straws most of the night. There were times we couldn’t make shots, but Deshaun stepped up. He’s been stepping up, playing some good basketball.”
Andrew Ketterman led Mountain Ridge with seven points in the first quarter. Trailing by five with two minutes left in the quarter, the Miners scored the final five points to tie it at 16.
“Andrew played the game of his life,” Nightengale said. “Andrew is one of those kids we ask to do a lot of the dirty things that don’t show up in the stat sheet. Tonight, he brought his offensive game. We’re gonna look for more of that, he did a great job on inside screens and rebounding. He gives us extra possessions and Andrew did a fantastic job adding to his game with the offensive side of it.”
The second quarter featured six lead changes and a tie. It was a high-scoring quarter by both teams who combined for 45 points.
Brown scored six points for Fort Hill while Allen hit a pair of triples. Leading 35-34 with 50 seconds left in the half, the Sentinels ended on a 6-2 run to take a 41-36 halftime lead.
“He’s a good shooter, he’s gonna keep shooting until he finds some rhythm,” Burner said. “He eventually found it in the fourth quarter.”
One of the key factors for the Miners in the second quarter was the chemistry between Pua’auli and Peyton Miller. They assisted each other on three plays, two were Miller to Pua’auli.
“Whenever those two get going, it gets the whole team rolling,” Nightengale said. “Both of them were battling tonight. Uma was struggling breathing with congestion in his chest, just a gutsy performance by him. He didn’t come out of the game, he’s a competitor.”
Miller had a big third quarter with 11 points. He hit a buzzer-beater layup off a Pua’auli inbound to end the quarter, extendeding Mountain Ridge’s lead to 58-55.
The Miners pushed their lead to eight points with 6:14 left. Fort Hill scored six unanswered to cut its deficit to 63-61 with 4:25 to play. Mountain Ridge committed five turnovers in the fourth quarter compared to one for Fort Hill.
“I’m proud of the boys,” Nightengale said. “To come to Fort Hill and be in it in the end, real proud of the boys. But we’re not looking at moral victories. We gotta fix the things we can fix to get the win in that situation.”
Allen had several clutch plays on both ends in the fourth quarter. He had a steal and a fast break layup early in Fort Hill’s run.
“I thought in the fourth quarter he took over the game,” Burner said. “He was super aggressive on defense. He was obviously the best player late in the game.”
He followed it with a block and a layup. After Seifarth came up with a steal, Burns hit a 3-pointer to give Fort Hill a 66-65 lead with 2:09 left.
After Mountain Ridge retook the lead, Allen assisted on a Seifarth 3-pointer to retake the lead again. Allen scored 13 points in the fourth quarter and made all four of his free throws. His final free throws made it an eight-point game in the final seconds.
“They were focused enough to finish the game,” Burner said. “They haven’t been in that situation very often this season. They found a way, they made shots when they had to make shots. They made stops when they had to make stops. Crowd got into it, I think they fed off of it.”
Allen led all scorers with 27 points, four assists, two steals and a block. Brown scored 20 with three assists and two steals. Seifarth scored 12 points with three assists and three steals.
“Deshaun’s been great the last few games,” Burner said. “He’s started coming into his own on the offensive end. He’s made shots, playing hard and being aggressive. We need that from him.”
Peyton Miller finished with 21 points and five assists. Ketterman scored 13 points with three assists. David Miller also scored 13 points with two assists. Tyson Shumaker finished with 11 points and a pair of assists.
“Peyton had an outstanding game,” Nightengale said. “We asked him to really try and force his game inside to the paint. He did what we asked him to do. He had a lot of points in the paint and played a tough game.”
The Miners host Clear Spring on Thursday at 7 p.m. The Sentinels host No. 2 Allegany on Friday at 7 p.m. The Campers won the last meeting at Allegany 73-60 over then top ranked Fort Hill.
“It means a lot,” Burner said. “I think it says a lot for us to respond from the first loss. We’ve taken care of what we needed to. Obviously, Friday night’s gonna be a big game.”