FROSTBURG — Mountain Ridge subbed out a starter just 62 seconds into its game against Allegany, and the players got the message.
The Miners’ coaching staff preached attacking the basket and limiting 3-point shots, and, after his team missed a trey in the first minute, Tim Nightengale called Nathan Miller’s number off the bench.
Miller scored under the rim just 22 seconds later, and it would become a theme — both in bench scoring and points in the paint, where Mountain Ridge had a decisive edge.
Mountain Ridge deployed aggressive help defense on the other end to keep Chris Manherz and No. 4 Allegany out of the lane, limiting the Campers to just four 2-point field goals all night, and the Miners cruised to a 58-39 romp on Monday at the Coal Mine.
“That was a great bounce-back from Saturday’s game where we felt like we kind of gave some things away in that fourth quarter,” said Nightengale, whose Miners improved to 7-6 (3-3 Western Maryland Athletic Conference). “Tonight we battled and we didn’t collapse under pressure.
“We played a complete game with all 11 players contributing. Everybody was on board, everybody was in it for the Mountain Ridge Miners.”
Both teams entered Monday night’s Allegany County bout off a loss two days prior. Allegany was routed by Keyser, 72-55, and Mountain Ridge was clipped by Fort Hill, 54-48.
After a back-and-forth first quarter which the Miners exited leading Allegany, 14-11, Mountain Ridge steadily extended its lead to 30-22 at the half and 47-35 after three periods.
Mountain Ridge’s defense, which prioritized hedging Manherz and weak-side defenders clogging the paint to keep the speedy guard away from the rim, eventually wore on Allegany.
The Miners held the Campers (9-5, 3-3 WestMAC) to just four fourth-quarter points to pull away.
Manherz still finished with a game-high 21 points, drilling five 3-pointers, but his teammates combined for just 18.
“We are not putting the ball in the basket,” Allegany head coach Brandon Reed said. “We gotta go back and look at the film and try to figure out what it is. We have to get back to basics of offensive basketball. To hold a team like Mountain Ridge to 58, our defense isn’t really the problem right now.
“We can’t get a rebound, and we can’t put the ball in the basket.”
The Campers used a variety of defenses to try to generate offense the other way: man-to-man, a 1-2-2 three-quarter-court trap that fell into a 3-2 zone, a 2-3 zone, and a 1-2-1-1 full-court press.
However, Allegany didn’t make enough shots to set up its full-court pressure, and Mountain Ridge took care of the ball to handle the revolving defenses.
Conversely, Mountain Ridge was the epitome of team with nine scorers and a 22-6 advantage in bench points.
When the Miners pulled their starters with 1:18 to play to an ovation from the Mountain Ridge students, who were raucous throughout, one of the role players who entered would’ve been Allegany’s second-leading scorer (Miller).
Miller equalled Cameron Breighner with a team-high 10 points, John Delaney and Levi Clise finished with eight each, and Trent Diamond added seven.
Diamond also served the role as Manherz’s primary defender.
Mountain Ridge’s commitment to taking quality shots resulted in 25 2-point field goals. While Allegany made seven 3-pointers, it had just a pair of 2s in each half.
“We’ve been struggling from the 3-point line,” Nightengale said. “We need to get the ball into the paint and get paint touches, and when you get the ball inside, it opens up things.”
Mountain Ridge won the junior varsity game 46-30. Sam Patterson and Caleb Hester led the Miners with 14 and 10 points, respectively. Alco’s Dylan Hare scored a game-high 15.
The Miners face a quick turnaround at No. 2 Fort Hill (10-3, 3-1 WestMAC) on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Allegany hosts Northern (6-8, 0-6 WestMAC) on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
The Campers will get to practice Tuesday, something they haven’t been able to do in more than a week due to the lengthy school closure after the recent snowstorm.
Reed is hoping his team gets back to the formula that led to an 8-2 start, which included a 59-54 win over Mountain Ridge just four games ago.
“I want to see the guys be the group that I think they are,” he said. “Be willing to be humble and learn from it and just get back to the basics. Those basics got us off to a really good start.”