CUMBERLAND — While hundreds of hearts raced in the dwindling seconds in a Haystack Mountain thriller, Sebastian Stewart had all the time in the world.
The senior forward made a pump fake and put the ball on frame over South Hagerstown’s Devon Wade, and the ball fell through the netting as the buzzer sounded, lifting No. 4 Allegany to a 68-67 victory over the Rebels Saturday to go 2-0 at the Bill Bowers Christmas Classic.
South Hagerstown took a 67-66 edge just 7.4 seconds prior on a pair of Avery Cosley free throws, but Allegany’s lightning quick point guard Chris Manherz found Stewart wide open in transition to stun the Rebels.
“I got the ball and I started up, hit the backboard and it went in,” said Stewart, who finished with 11 points. “We’re mentally tough. We’re mentally tough in practice. We worked for it, but the job’s not finished.”
Allegany’s victory came a day after South Hagerstown routed the area’s No. 1 team Fort Hill, 76-55.
The guard duo of Manherz and Owen Rice commanded a bulk of the scoring load for Allegany (5-1), combining for 50 points and 10 3-pointers. Manherz scored 29, including eight in the fourth quarter, and hit four triples, and Rice added 21 points and six treys.
Nazir Mitchell led South Hagerstown (3-4) with 17 points, Luke Leisinger scored 14 and Cosley tallied 13.
Allegany’s mental toughness was tested in two key stretches in the second half.
The Campers’ first obstacle came after Manherz was issued a technical foul early in the third quarter, which handed South Hagerstown a 39-31 lead and the ball.
Allegany responded with a 10-0 run, and it started on the defensive end. A Manherz 3-pointer with 2:57 left in the third quarter was the first field goal by either team in the second half.
A 4-point play by Rice in the final minute gave Allegany a 48-46 edge going into the fourth.
When Allegany’s back was against the wall, it drew motivation from what it saw before the game.
“They came out warm ups. They looked like they were just dilly-dallying out there, like they didn’t see us as competition,” Manherz said. “We sent them on a nice bus ride home.”
The Allegany momentum carried into the fourth, and with 2:29 to play, the Campers led 64-56 following a Manherz pull-up jumper.
That’s when Allegany’s fortitude was tested a second time. South Hagerstown went on a 7-0 run in 34 seconds, taking advantage of a pair of steals and scores the other way, and it took the lead on a Mitchell finish with 1:14 remaining to cap a 9-0 burst.
Manherz gave Allegany the lead again with a layup with 55 seconds remaining.
After a charge drawn by Cole Ricker and a brief stoppage for a police escort for a pair of fans ejected, Cosley hit a pair from the line to set up Stewart’s heroics.
“That’s a tough, tough thing to come back from,” Allegany head coach Brandon Reed said. “We called a timeout and they were looking me in the eye and they were under control. They knew that we were going to be all right.
“They believed in us, we believed in them and they rose to the occasion. I don’t think those guys ever thought they were going to lose that game.”
It was a game of runs in the first half too.
The Campers surged ahead 8-4 early with an 8-0 burst and led 18-13 before South Hagerstown ended the period with a 6-0 flurry.
Allegany held a lead for the early portion of the second quarter, and South Hagerstown answered with eight straight points to bring a 36-31 advantage into the halftime locker room.
South Hagerstown nearly used another to leave Cumberland with a pair of wins, but Allegany had the answers late to push its winning streak to five games.
Allegany is at Southern next on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
“We’ll get back to work on Monday,” Reed said. “That’s the great part about this group, they’re hungry to keep working and keep improving. … Southern will be a tall task.”
Allegany 61, Armstrong 47
Allegany used a strong second quarter and 25 points from Manherz to defeat Armstrong, 61-47, in the Bill Bowers Christmas Classic on Friday.
Allegany trailed 14-13 after the first quarter and took a 29-21 lead at the half and 42-33 edge into the fourth. Manherz scored all 25 of his points from the second period on.
The Campers sunk nine 3-pointers, with Manherz and Rice leading the charge with four triples each. Rice (14 points) and Stewart (10) also scored in double figures.
Armstrong’s Quinton Olsen scored a team-high 13 points, and Kaison Young added 11.