CUMBERLAND — South Hagerstown dominated the third quarter, outscoring No. 3 Fort Hill 26-9 in a 60-42 win on Thursday in the finale of the Bill Bowers Christmas Classic.
“We didn’t compete in the third quarter. That was the difference,” Fort Hill head coach Thad Burner said. “Offensively, defensively, we didn’t do anything. We gave up 26 points in the third, that was the difference.”
The Sentinels (2-2) went into halftime down 28-26, but the mistakes piled up in the third quarter.
Fort Hill’s first two possessions of the second half resulted in a backcourt violation and missing two shots on the second possession.
“I think effort tends to lead to bad shots,” Burner said. “Bad execution leads to poor effort. Poor effort leads to poor effort on both ends. It gets away from you quick in a basketball game.”
The Rebels (3-5) opened the half with 11 unanswered points. Xavier Oree and Elijah Creary led South Hagerstown. Oree recorded a steal, an assist and a layup and Creary added an assist and an and-one layup.
Steven Spencer found Liam Hamilton for a layup to break Fort Hill’s scoreless drought that lasted over four minutes.
The Rebels went on an 11-2 run to push the lead to 50-30 with just under two minutes left in the third quarter.
“They went on a 6-0 run and that lead just went further and further,” Burner said. “We tried to get some timeouts, tried to get some changes. There was no solution.”
Dustin Littles capped the quarter with a putback at the buzzer to put South Hagerstown up 54-35 after three quarters.
The Rebels outscored the Sentinels 26-9 in the third quarter.
Fort Hill committed six turnovers during the quarter and shot 2 for 11 from the field. The Sentinels missed all five 3-point attempts.
“We didn’t defend, we didn’t play offense,” Burner said. “We didn’t rebound, anything you can think of for them to score points and us not score,”
Both teams inserted their benches in the fourth quarter. South Hagerstown outscored Fort Hill 7-6.
The Sentinels opened the game with a sloppy start. The Rebels recorded five steals in the first quarter, all leading to points.
South Hagerstown opened the game on a 11-1 run. Creary recorded back-to-back steals and layups.
“I thought we just missed some shots there,” Burner said.
The Sentinels first made field goal came with 2:30 left on a layup by Hamilton off a Landon Sensabaugh assist.
Fort Hill rallied, ending the quarter on a 12-2 run to tie the game at 13 after one quarter.
“We battled back, started to defend a little better,” Burner said.
Sensabaugh assisted Hamilton on a layup and on the next possession drew a foul on a 3-point shot.
He made all three free throws to cut the deficit to 13-6. To end the quarter, Deshaun Brown set up Hamilton for a and-one layup that tied the game.
The Sentinels kept it a two-possession or less game for most of the second quarter.
Fort Hill took the lead with 2:34 left. After the Sentinels gave up a steal, Brown answered with a steal on the other end. He passed to Jabril Daniels for a layup to give Fort Hill a 26-24 advantage.
South Hagerstown took the lead at 28-26 with 1:06 left in the first half on a layup by Javontay Lewis.
“I was hoping we’d come out and get some stops in the third quarter,” Burner said. “We tried, but we weren’t running the better offense. It’s effort, you gotta play basketball at a high level.”
Damon Breeland led the Rebels with 16 points, adding two steals and a block. Elijah Greary scored 15 points with five steals, two blocks and two assists.
Brown was the only Sentinel to score in double figures, finishing with 16 points along with four assists and two steals.
Daniels and Hamilton each scored six points, Hamilton added three steals.
After the game, Burner and several assistant coaches gave a fiery postgame speech. Burner said he was most disappointed with the lack of effort from his team.
“We didn’t compete, you’re not gonna beat anybody in competitive sports when you don’t compete,” Burner said.
Fort Hill is at Brunswick on Wednesday at 7 p.m.