Sweeping the season series
Annapolis blows past Southern in third despite foul trouble
When the third Annapolis 3-pointer in less than a minute departed the fingers of guard Jamari Harrod, the Panthers felt momentum flowing through them and draining Southern dry.
As many fouls that were tacked on Annapolis’ players, that impact seemed to bounce off them like rain on a tin roof — just as across the court, foul trouble swallowed the Bulldogs whole.
“Energy,” said Annapolis center Malik Carrol, who led the Panthers with 16 points. “Energy and discipline won this game.”
After a hopelessly entangled first quarter, Annapolis ripped away from its friendly rivals to the south, building a double-digit advantage that would kennel the Bulldogs indefinitely, 74-62.
The Panthers, now on a four-game winning streak with just one Anne Arundel loss, take the season sweep against Southern, improving on their last victory over the Bulldogs (11-4), which had been by just two points.
And initially, it had seemed like the two teams were bound to repeat history. Just as Demari Turner pocketed the first layup for Annapolis (11-2), so did Russell Dandridge for Southern. As Craig Pratt (15 points) lifted a 3-pointer to reclaim the lead, sophomore Larry Bulluck tied it back up with his own.
On and on it went, with both teams wrestling away a tiny advantage only to watch it volley to the other side.
For a moment, it’d looked like Southern would be the one to break the wheel. First, senior Khiyon Washington (22 points) weaved through traffic to flip a go-ahead to Bulluck (11 points). Then, he boosted in a pair of treys that temporarily turned control to the Bulldogs.
Then the temperature dropped. One whistle poked a needle in Southern. The second tore them open, all the air spilling out.
Within seconds of one another, both Bulluck and Washington had three fouls pinned on them, benching them with too much time before halftime.
“We had lost some composure, and I had just said, ‘They’re going be trying to get a charge on you. You’ve got to make sure you understand we’ve got to jump stop.’ And bam, we couldn’t get out the way,” Southern coach Will Maynard said. “We couldn’t do it from there.”
With the two leading scorers and a dynamic guard in Washington decommissioned, Annapolis was operating in a whole new world.
Pratt had retaken the lead with fivestraight points, and Harrod and Carrol helped tear the walls down even further.
The Panthers carried only a six-point lead into the break. That was something Southern, given their weapons, could play with if they could walk into the third quarter with some energy. Only, they didn’t. Annapolis did. Carrol kicked it off before even ten seconds had shaved off the clock, but that was just the appetizer. First Demeiko Ross poured in his 3-pointer, then Harrod, forcing the Bulldogs to call for timeout.
The fouls had made Southern gun-shy on defense, forcing them to play zone, a tactic they normally wouldn’t go for.
That was a space the Panthers enjoyed. Moments after play resumed, Harrod dropped in another 3-pointer, extending the host’s lead to 17 points.
And as the sound of the whistle continued to punctuate gameplay, Annapolis acted like they couldn’t hear it. Defense continued to up their intensity on Bulldogs’ ball-handlers, forcing turnovers and limiting movement.
“When we really put the pressure on them, I felt like they started to fall,” Carrol said. “They really stopped playing as a team.”
Fouls eventually piled up the Panthers, a whopping 23 fouls with five individuals with three or more.
“Sometimes, the game’s too crazy because they don’t call It’s very hard to coach that because it’s a very emotional game,” Annapolis coach Dan Smalley said. “Both teams know each other well. Sometimes, it goes the other side, too.”
But it couldn’t stop them from forcing their will on the Bulldogs. Fresh bodies kept running off the bench into the fray.
“When you get somebody like Southern where they got a couple really strong players, you’re probably gonna get fouls called on you and you’ve got to have backups,” Smalley said. “We’re fortunate to have that this year.”
At first, Southern fought back, drilling a couple field goals. Then, another needle. In the middle of an Annapolis free throw, referees called a technical foul on Dandridge, which would doom the junior to fouling out soon after and seep its toxins into the heads of the Southern players.
The gap kept widening, and with foul pressure on their backs and on their minds, they couldn’t recover, couldn’t string the same kind of offensive spirit like Annapolis’ together.
“We have to learn how to end runs. A lot of times, in these games, teams go on runs and we’re not able to sustain because we don’t have good possessions,” Maynard said. “We’ve got seven more games left before the playoffs, so we’ve got to fix it. I can’t let this Annapolis loss turn into more losses.”
Despite the emotions roiling players throughout the game, the moment the final buzzer sounded, Annapolis and Southern immediately broke into hugs with one another.
“We’re family off the court, but on the court,” Pratt began, which Carrol finished, “it’s all business.”
“It’s not personal, it’s just basketball,” Carrol said.
Smalley won’t let this victory inflate his or his team’s heads too much. There are still more games to play, more teams that could upend the Panthers’ success.
But walking off the floor, Carrol couldn’t help feeling the opposite. For Pratt, he could feel a target pinned to his back.
“I think we’re the best. I always think we’re the best. I feel like we’re really starting to show it,” he said. “We really starting to gel as a team, now that we’ve been with each other for a little bit, all getting used to each other. Now, it’s just uphill from here.”