CUMBERLAND — Keyser has been looking for a player to supply a perimeter threat. On Wednesday at Fort Hill, that person was Monk Garland.
With Fort Hill standout Liam Hamilton out of the lineup with an ankle injury, the Sentinels and Keyser left a back-and-forth first quarter tied at 12. That’s when Garland caught fire.
Garland sunk three 3-pointers as part of a 15-0 Keyser run that spanned three minutes, and he hit one more during a 26-9 second period in favor of the fifth-ranked Golden Tornado, which proved to be the decisive stanza in a 62-46 victory over No. 1 Fort Hill Wednesday.
“I’ve just been so happy with our defense in the last couple weeks, even in a couple games we lost,” Keyser head coach Scott Furey said. “Getting 14 from Monk is a big thing. … Salute to him for a great game.”
Keyser (11-9) has won nine of its past 12 games, its three losses coming by single digits to Frankfort twice (57-52 and 54-52) and Southern (52-47 in overtime).
Fort Hill fell to 14-6 after suffering its third straight defeat.
Without Hamilton, a 13.7 points per game scorer who left Tuesday’s 52-39 defeat to University in the second quarter, Fort Hill was looking for other players to step up into a bigger role.
Keyser had other ideas, bullying Fort Hill on both ends of the floor. The Golden Tornado took a 38-21 edge into halftime and a 53-34 margin into the fourth.
Keyser led by 20 or more for most of the final quarter.
While Keyser only out-rebounded fort Hill, 32-28, it pulled down 14 offensive rebounds and had a 19-9 advantage in boards at intermission. The Golden Tornado also forced 19 turnovers, turning it over just nine times themselves.
“We just got beaten in every aspect of the game,” Fort Hill head coach Thad Burner said. “Second quarter just got completely away from us. Our intensity, it wasn’t on the defensive end, it wasn’t on the offensive end. I thought we stood and watched from every aspect, it didn’t matter.”
Garland’s offensive explosion came out of nowhere for Keyser. His 14 points doubled his season high, and his four 3-pointers in the second quarter were twice his season total coming in.
“With what they were doing in their 2-3 (zone), we knew that one reversal should be giving us that shot,” Furey said. “And kudos to the kids for seeing it and getting that one extra pass.”
Down low, big man Braylon McGreevy was active from the onset, garnering a game-high 19 points. Trey Dawson and Grayson Lambka added 10 each.
Fort Hill was led by Jameson Powell-Morris and Landyn Green with 12 and 11 points, respectively.
Recent junior varsity call-up Levi House, a freshman, was next on the squad with six points. No other Sentinel had more than four.
“We were hoping kids would step up today, and honestly no one really did,” Burner said. “It was just a complete letdown. Regardless of Liam being out, they knew this was an important basketball game.
“We potentially only have one more home game left. That was really disheartening today to see the lack of effort on both sides.”
Keyser hosts Mountain Ridge (9-9) on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
Fort Hill, 6-1 in the Western Maryland Athletic Conference, has a home matchup with No. 2 Southern (14-7, 6-1 WestMAC) on Friday at 7 p.m. in a winner-take-all bout for the conference title.
Hamilton is expected to return to the lineup.
“They’ve got 48 hours to turn it around,” Burner said. “They’re not going to beat anybody playing like the way they did today. I hope that they understand that.”