OAKLAND — While South’s leading scorers Jacob Brown and Graham Harvey spent extended periods on the bench with foul trouble, the Rams’ bench did their part.
Brown scored 16 points and hit four three-pointers in the first half to help the South lead 30-18, but he and Harvey soon picked up their third fouls, prompting the South to turn to a lineup that lacked offensive firepower.
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South’s reserves only scored two points in the period, but they performed well defensively to hold the team together, and when Brown and Harvey returned, the Rams still led by seven points.
Alec Van Scheetz hit a clutch 3-pointer in the final seconds and Harvey hammered the nail in the coffin with a mid-range dagger in the final two minutes as second-ranked Southern held off Mountain Ridge 56-47 on Monday night at Ram Arena.
“We played really well in the first half,” Southern head coach Hunter Broadwater said. “Probably one of our best defensive halves of the year. Then we got into some foul trouble and I thought our young guys came in and played full defense. They really helped us a lot defensively.”
Southern improved its record to 13-7 overall and 6-1 in Western Maryland Athletic Conference play. The Rams have a chance to win the league title Friday at Fort Hills.
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Mountain Ridge fell to 9-9 (3-5 WestMAC) after losing to Southern for the second time this season.
Brown scored a Rams-high 20 points, Van Schetz scored 16 points and Harvey scored 11 points.
Mountain Ridge big man Cameron Breighner scored a game-high 22 points, AJ Lauder had nine points on three 3-pointers and John Delaney had eight points.
South led 12-11 after the first quarter and started the second quarter with a 16-3 run to push the score to 28-14.
The Miners trailed by 15 points in the second half, but South made 11 of 20 shots from the field in the fourth quarter to pull within 44-40 at the free throw line.
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However, Van Schetz hit a key 3-pointer from the corner, the Rams forced a turnover, and Harvey hit a contested jumper over two Ridge defenders to help extend Southern’s lead to 49-40 with 1:52 left.
“Alec hit another big three around the same time to keep us in the lead (last week against Keyser),” Broadwater said. “He was outstanding again tonight.”
The Miners pulled within seven after Louder’s final 3-pointer, but Ridge’s offensive struggles in the first half proved to be insurmountable.
Before halftime, the Mountain Ridgers were 8 of 29 from the field and 1 of 9 from 3-point range.
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“We fought back in the second half. We shot really bad in the first half,” Ridge head coach Tim Nightengale said. “Our goal is one possession.
“We didn’t shoot the free throw line very well tonight. You know, it was a very physical game and I thought we could have taken more free throws.”
The two teams committed a total of 42 fouls and 51 free throws. Southern’s Brown and Braden Lucas (six runs) and Ridge’s Trent Diamond all had foul outs.
Southern shot 22-for-34 from the free throw line and Mountain Ridge went 8-for-17 from the line.
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Foul trouble affected both teams’ lineups. Brener was aggressive early on, scoring Ridge’s first eight points off the bench.
Ridge took advantage of Southern’s foul trouble and went on a 7-2 run to cut the Rams’ lead to 37-30 with 2:23 left in the third quarter.
Nightengale highlighted the end of the third quarter as a critical moment, as Lucas’ layup at the buzzer gave Southern a 40-32 lead heading into the fourth quarter, just seconds after Brener held the Miners within six.
While Mountain Ridge’s two-game winning streak ends, the Miners can start another game at Broadford on Thursday at 7 p.m.
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“We lost some close games,” Nightengale said. “We feel like we’re competitive in every game we lose. Our goal is just to keep working hard and play our best basketball when the first playoff game comes around.”
Southern is at home again Wednesday, taking on No. 3 Frankfurt (12-6) at 7:30 p.m.
As the season comes to a close, the Rams’ mentality echoes Nightengale’s sentiments.
“We’re just trying to get better every day and get into the playoffs with our best basketball of the year,” Broadwater said.
