Jan. 28—CUMBERLAND — “Keep your composure, give yourself a chance to win the basketball game.”
That was Fort Hill head coach Thad Burner’s message at the half with his team facing a 34-30 deficit to Southern. The Sentinels weathered the storm with their defensive effort, Jabril Daniels sunk a crucial triple late and Gamil Daniels gave them a one-point lead with a free throw with 6.1 seconds left.
Fort Hill fittingly capped the game with one final defensive stand, as Liam Hamilton blocked the go-ahead 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the top-ranked Sentinels a gritty 57-56 win over No. 2 Southern on Monday night.
“Our effort in the second half was really good, our defensive effort,” Burner said. “I thought that was kinda the difference. We were battling.
“They got their composure to come out in the second half. That’s something we stressed at the beginning of the year. If we had done this (game) in September, we’d have probably lost by 20.”
Fort Hill (5-5, 2-0 Western Maryland Athletic Conference) pushed its winning streak to four games after a 1-5 start. Southern dropped to 7-4 (3-2 WestMAC) following its second straight defeat.
The Rams had a chance to win in the final seconds for a second consecutive game.
Trailing 57-56, Southern had 5.2 seconds to go the length of the court out of a timeout. Rams point guard Brayden Upole, who finished with a game-high 23 points, had a look at the top of the key, but Hamilton got a finger on his running trey.
Southern wanted to get the ball to its leading scorer Jared Haskiell, who ended with 17 points. However, Jabril Daniels denied him the basketball.
“We were trying to get a dribble handoff to Jared, but they defended it,” Southern head coach Hunter Broadwater said. “We probably should’ve fouled earlier to give ourselves a chance on offense.”
Fort Hill had a balanced offense with five scorers who tallied at least nine points.
Jabril Daniels led the pack with 13 points and five assists, Hamilton had 12 points and eight rebounds, Landen Sweitzer garnered 10 points, and Gamil Daniels and Jameson Powell added nine points apiece.
“That’s our identity on the offensive end,” Burner said. “It’s five guys that have to be willing to play with one another.”
Meanwhile, Upole and Haskiell combined for 40 of Southern’s 56 points. Graham Harvey was third on the squad with five points.
Fort Hill limited Haskiell — a 22.9 points per game scorer — to six points in the second half. Jabril Daniels was his primary defender.
“All day long, the emphasis was to try to take him away as much as we could,” Burner said. “That also got us into some problems with help-side. … As the game went on, we started switching ball screens instead of doubling it.
“Towards the end of the game, we just wanted to deny him.”
Haskiell excited the crowd early in the fourth quarter by jumping a passing lane and flushing a two-handed jam in transition on the other hand.
With the emphasis on stopping Haskiell, Upole exploded for 16 points in the first half, burying four 3-pointers.
Fort Hill held the point guard to seven points after halftime.
“Last few games, they’ve face-guarded Jared like crazy,” Broadwater said. “In the third quarter and start of the fourth quarter, they started doing the same thing to Brayden.
“That’s when we have to be better with the other three players. Getting them open shots. When they’re face-guarding them, there’s no help-side.”
Southern led the entire third quarter, and Fort Hill didn’t take its first lead of the second half until Powell buried a trey with 6:36 to play for a 47-46 edge.
Tied at 51, Southern’s Jacob Brown rattled in a trey with 2:30 remaining, but Fort Hill regained a 56-54 advantage after Jabril Daniels swished a corner 3-pointer with 1:01 on the clock.
Haskiell sunk a pair of free throws to level the score at 56 with 32.7 seconds remaining.
Gamil Daniels was fouled on a drive to the hoop on Fort Hill’s next possession, and he hit 1 of 2 shots to give the Sentinels what proved to be the decisive point of the night.
While neither team executed in the half-court efficiently, both squads impressed with their intensity defensively.
Fort Hill had scored at least 70 points in its last three games, wins over Allegany (71-59), Frankfort (72-43) and Keyser (71-42), but the Rams held them under 60 to give themselves a chance.
“I thought we were a little better defensively today,” Broadwater said. “Kept the score down, which helps. We got in foul trouble, put them on the line too much down the stretch to let them get back in the game.
“We were proud of their defensive intensity, their attention to detail, for the most part. That was a lot better. Effort and intensity the entire time.”
Southern faces a difficult test Wednesday as it tries to end a two-game skid. The Rams host Tucker County (12-1) in a 7:30 p.m. tip-off.
Fort Hill is off until Friday when it welcomes county rival Mountain Ridge (3-6, 2-1 WestMAC) at 7 p.m.
For at least another game, Fort Hill avoided becoming the third No. 1 team in as many weeks to get knocked off.
“Basketball right now is the wild wild west,” Burner said. “It’s open for everybody.
“I’ll take our guys in a dogfight.”
Alex Rychwalski is a sports reporter at the Cumberland Times-News. Follow him on Twitter @arychwal.
