CUMBERLAND — No. 1 seed Fort Hill clinched its spot in the Maryland Class 1A semifinal with a convincing 65-26 home win over No. 8 Smithsburg on Saturday afternoon.
The Sentinels (22-2) clinched their first appearance in the semifinals since 2008.
“It’s a good feeling, we’re heading to the Final Four,” Fort Hill head coach Thad Burner said. “It’s hats off to a coaching staff to working as hard as possible. This doesn’t just happen, and I want everyone to know that. From a coaching standpoint to a player standpoint, there’s a massive amount of work and it doesn’t go unnoticed by me.”
The Leopards (12-10) fell behind early and were unable to generate any momentum.
“I wish we would’ve come out and given them a better game,” Smithsburg head coach Eric Gerber said. “They played very well in the first half, credit to them. We just did not play our best game.”
Fort Hill has been known to take big leads in the first quarter, and this game was no exception. The Sentinels scored the first 12 points, nine coming off 3-pointers with Anthony Burns making two.
“We made it really difficult for Smithsburg to run their offense today,” Burner said. “Everyone wants to talk about our offense, we’re a pretty good defensive team too. That helped play into our offense was our defensive effort.”
It took until the 3:39 mark in the quarter for Smithsburg to score when Tre Weakfall made a free throw. It took until the 1:48 mark for the Leopards to make a field goal when Sam Bono hit a 3-pointer.
“We’re a team all year that relied on our defense,” Gerber said. “We’re not a team like Fort Hill that’s gonna come out and make 11 of 18 3s in the first half. That’s just not something we’re capable of doing. When they score like that, we’re not a team that’s built to come from behind.”
Owen Seifarth led the Sentinels with seven points in the first quarter. He finished with 10 points, all in the first half, and Fort Hill led 20-4 after one quarter.
“Owen’s a great basketball player,” Burner said. “He’s the best big man in the area by far. I think he had a little chip on his shoulder in the feeling he didn’t score points. But Owen did a lot of things in that Allegany game that helped us win a basketball game.”
The Sentinels got hot from deep in the second quarter, hitting seven 3s. Burns made three of them and had 15 points at halftime, all 15 coming off long balls. Burns finished the game with 15 points and three assists.
“Anthony almost averaged 20 points a game last year,” Burner said. “We tend to forget about that. Anthony has a lot to do with this team and the success we’ve had.”
Mikey Allen did what he’s done in so many games this season in the second quarter. He made a pair of 3-pointers and scored 10 points to help Fort Hill extend its lead.
“When we’re hitting shots, we’re unstoppable,” Allen said.
After another slow start offensively, Smithsburg found some offense midway through the second quarter. The Leopards scored 11 points compared to only four in the first.
“We competed, we continued to compete,” Gerber said. “The game’s out of hand, but you want to go out playing hard and compete the whole way. I thought we did that tonight.”
The Sentinels led 49-15 at halftime. Burns, with 15 points and Allen with 13, led Fort Hill. No Leopard had more than three points at halftime.
In the first half, Fort Hill made 11 3-pointers, breaking a team record for the most made 3s in a season with 194, surpassing the 2001 Sentinels who made 187.
“It means a lot,” Allen said. “You put in the work every day after practice, before practice. It means a lot.”
The Sentinels combined for 13 3-pointers, three shy of their season high of 16 against Southern.
In the third quarter, Josh Hegbe gave Smithsburg some much-needed offense, scoring seven points. The Leopards held Fort Hill to 12 while scoring 11.
“He got in foul trouble early for us,” Gerber said. “He’s a guy along with (Max) Bono that’s been the most valuable guy on our team. He’s undersized but he competes and scores around the basket.”
The Sentinels led 61-26 after three quarters and inserted their bench to finish out the game. Gavin Carney hit a free throw in the final minute for Fort Hill.
Allen led all scorers with 22 points, four assists, two steals and a block in his final game in Fort Hill’s gym. Burner said he left a lasting impact on the basketball program.
“I think what he means to the program is that this can continue to go on,” Burner said. “There might be a kid that’s watching him in the stands and they look up and want to be the next Mikey Allen. I think he’s that special of a basketball player. I think his impact becomes maybe everlasting.”
Hegbe led Smithsburg with 10 points.
“He’ll score around the basket,” Gerber said. “That’s what he can do. He’s a kid we relied on all year to get some offensive rebounds and score around the basket. He was able to do that today.”
Fort Hill advances to play No. 4 seed Edmondson-Westside on Tuesday at 5 p.m. It will be at a neutral site that has not been announced.
“They’re a good basketball team,” Burner said of the Red Storm. “They’ve got good size, but we’ll do our due diligence and hopefully come up with a good plan.”