CUMBERLAND — Fort Hill made a second-half run Friday just like it did back in mid-January; this time, however, Allegany bent but didn’t break.
The Campers, who dropped the first meeting with the Sentinels 68-64 in South Cumberland, saw leads of 18, 14 and 11 cut to single digits by the Fort Hill press.
After back-to-back Landon Sensabaugh 3s, Fort Hill trailed by just 61-56 with 4:50 to play.
Yet, there was no Fort Hill comeback in the rematch, as third-ranked Allegany answered the tension with six straight points to take down top-ranked Fort Hill, 73-61, before a capacity crowd of 800 at Allegany High School.
The Campers never trailed.
A game after Allegany head coach Tedd Eirich won his 400th game, No. 401 was likely far more satisfying.
“We’re pretty much known for our lapses, but every time we had a couple we fought back,” Eirich said. “I’m just happy the way that we held it together.
“We had to have this game for obvious reasons. We’re all shooting for the No. 1 spot in the region. That’s very important for home-court advantage. Quite frankly, we had to have this one tonight.
“I’m just glad that our kids stepped up and we got it done.”
The win moves Allegany to 15-3 overall and 6-2 in the Western Maryland Athletic Conference. Fort Hill falls to 14-4 and 6-1 in the WestMAC. The Sentinels can clinch the conference outright with a win at Southern on Tuesday.
Because tournament games aren’t factored into playoff seeding — and Allegany beat South Hagerstown in the Bill Bowers Christmas tournament and Fort Hill lost to the Rebels — both city schools are 13-3 in postseason record with four games to play.
Allegany center Zach Michael recorded another double-double with 22 points and 13 rebounds. Dylan Shaffer ended with 15 points and six rebounds, Isaiah Fields tallied 11 points and a team-high six assists, and Dae Dae Smith stuffed the stat sheet with 11 points, nine rebounds, four assists and three steals.
Gamil Daniels and Deshaun Brown led Fort Hill with 13 points apiece, and Steven Spencer finished with 12 points, six rebounds and four assists off the bench.
Allegany dominated Fort Hill inside with a 33-23 edge in rebounds, and the Sentinels weren’t able to turn the Campers over enough to offset the discrepancy.
The Campers had 21 turnovers on 16 Sentinel steals in the teams’ first meeting; they had 14 on just four steals Friday.
The lack of live-ball turnovers meant Fort Hill still had to execute against Allegany’s physical man-to-man defense to generate points.
“We didn’t create turnovers that resulted in layups,” Fort Hill head coach Thad Burner said. “When you’re turning them over and the ball’s going out of bounds, you’re trying to run offense, and we didn’t do a very good job of moving the ball.
“There were times that we did, but I don’t think we consistently played good offense. I thought Allegany did what they wanted to do. They got people the ball in positions to score. We have to get better in that aspect.”
For a time, it seemed Allegany was going to run away with it.
Smith and sophomore guard Chris Manherz, all 5-foot-4, 125 pounds of him, provided Allegany with a shot in the arm defensively and in the open court during the second quarter.
After a Manherz steal resulted in a Smith transition layup, a Smith steal ended with a Manherz corner 3-pointer and Manherz scored again on the fastbreak in succession, Fort Hill burned a timeout trailing 32-16 after a 13-2 run.
Allegany scored once more out of the stoppage to push its margin to a game-high 18.
“It’s taken us all year to try to find our rotations, who’s playing where and who’s doing what,” Eirich said. “I just think bringing Chris up off JVs, we haven’t asked him to carry the team or do anything special. He just gives us another ball handler. … Eli (Imes) is coming off the bench and playing well.”
Trailing 34-16, Fort Hill got a much-needed burst from Spencer and Brown after back-to-back 3s. More importantly, the makes allowed the Sentinels to set up their full-court press.
After a series of Allegany turnovers, Fort Hill, which trailed 21-14 after the first quarter, pulled to within 37-30 at the half.
Fort Hill cut it to six early in the third quarter, but Allegany responded with an 8-0 burst, capped by a 3-pointer by Smith, to go back up 45-31. The Campers led 57-48 going into the fourth.
Sensabaugh’s 3s brought Fort Hill within a second-half low five points midway through the fourth; however, Allegany’s defense held the Sentinels scoreless for nearly three minutes, and the Campers pulled away for good.
Foul shooting played a key part in Allegany’s ability to stay ahead and Fort Hill’s inability to close the gap.
The Campers were 7 for 8 from the foul line after halftime, while the Sentinels were just 5 for 14.
“You’re gonna have to make free throws and make shots,” Burner said. “We’re going to have to be better collectively.”
Allegany finished 14 for 20, and Fort Hill was 7 for 17.
“It’s huge to finally shoot foul shots,” Eirich said. “This is the biggest game of the year up to this point. To shoot foul shots in this atmosphere, it’s exactly what we needed.”
Both teams were in foul trouble at times.
Shaffer picked up his fourth foul with 4:33 to play in the third period and still managed 12 second-half points — a good chunk of which came after Allegany press breaks in the fourth quarter.
Fields and Brown also picked up their fourth fouls during the decider. Brown was held scoreless after 13 points before halftime.
Fort Hill finished with six 3-pointers, and Spencer and Sensabaugh both made two each. Smith made three of Allegany’s five 3s.
Fort Hill won the freshman game 39-36 on a half court buzzer-beater by Jameson Powell, who scored a team-high 11 points. Alco’s Rylen Ellsworth finished with a game-best 21.
Allegany won the junior varsity game 44-38. Landon Holliday (13) and Alex Spriggs ended in double figures for the Campers, Noah House (11) and Sam Spencer (11) did so for Fort Hill.
Up next, Allegany heads to Shalom on Monday at 6:45 p.m. Fort Hill will look to bounce back at Clear Spring on Monday at 6 p.m.
“We have four games in seven days,” Burner said. “So we’re going to have to put this one behind us and move forward.”