Broadneck boys basketball hands No. 7 Meade 1st regular-season Anne Arundel County loss in 3 years
To remain the only undefeated team in Anne Arundel County play, Broadneck needed to check every box off its list.
Shut down Meade’s transition game, smother the post, grab rebounds and corral top shooters Xavion Roberson and Shawn Jones while also managing to pressure the perimeter and limit 3-pointers, all while turning up on offense when possible.
A lesser team might not have been able to accomplish a list so expansive. But Broadneck proved to be at a higher level Wednesday.
The Bruins impeded the No. 7 Mustangs at every turn on the way to a 58-42 victory, handing Meade its first loss in 14 games and its first in-season county loss since Feb. 20, 2020.
In the process the Bruins toppled the Mustangs from the top of the county standings too. It’s a position Broadneck does not sit on comfortably, knowing full well the teams will likely meet again next Saturday in the county championship, but it’s a spot it currently treasures.
“We were 4-4 [in 2019] when we went to states; we were 4-4 this year,” Broadneck coach John Williams said. “As long as you can collectively keep the group together and focus and not have guys jump off the ship, usually by January you learn from your mistakes.”
December was not kind to the Bruins. Broadneck (16-4, 11-0 county) dropped games to both in-county and out-of-county opponents, usually starting with a dramatic drop-off in the third quarter. But in January, when the county games count toward standings, the Bruins finally began to mesh. They began to trust each other and set goals for each other: limit dribble-drive in the penetration, stop teams beating them from the outside and take care of offensive rebounds.
“A lot can be said for having gone through what we did,” Williams said.
Junior Jordan Brown embodied that metamorphosis, showering 19 of his game-high 28 points in the
Broadneck’s Jordan Brown scores on a layup in the first quarter of Wednesday’s game against Meade. Brown had 28 points in the Bruins’ 5842 victory.
second half. He was an inevitability Meade (18-2, 10-1) just could not quell.
“He definitely has that type of potential,” Williams said. “One of the more polished players we’ve ever had in our program. When he’s in attack mode like he was tonight, he makes everyone around him better.”
Meade held a 27-26 lead at halftime, but the Bruins were not going to let the Mustangs get comfortable. The demolition of the third quarter that closed with Broadneck up 46-31 eased by the fourth.
But by the time the Mustangs clamped a boot on Brown and
drummed up a little offense, the chance was behind them.
For Meade, the loss might be looked back on as a blessing. It’s something the Mustangs didn’t have in the regular season last year, and in the end that might have helped harden them to the kind of comeback Winston Churchill staged against them in the Class 4A state semifinals.
“Now we got punched in the mouth,” Mustangs coach Mike Glick said. “We won 14 straight games and sometimes you feel like you’re flawless and you’re not going to lose. Now this humbles us.”
New Town 59, Dulaney 52: New Town hit plenty of roadblocks at Baltimore County rival Dulaney on Wednesday night, thanks in large part to the Lions’ scrappy play.
Coach Derek Wise welcomed the challenge and was curious to see how his No. 6 Titans would respond.
When crunch time arrived, their defense stiffened, they took care of the boards and they hit tough shots and free throws. Mostly, the Titans simply stuck together.
Senior captains Cam Sparrow and Arrington Greenfield each scored 17 points to help New Town secure a comeback victory over the host Lions.
New Town improved to 17-2 on the season, while Dulaney, which got a 16-point performance from Jamariez Corley-Scott, fell to 15-5.
After falling behind by as many as nine points in the second quarter, the Titans rallied to make it tight throughout the second half. With the game tied at 49 with 4 minutes, 10 seconds left, they pulled away behind their two captains. Greenfield scored on a tough follow to give New Town the lead for good and later added two free throws.
Sparrow blocked a shot, grabbed a rebound, chased down a loose ball and hit four free throws, including the final two, to seal the win with 23 seconds to play.
“We needed a game like this in the worst way,” Wise said. “We needed to be tested. We needed to go through adversity and I wanted us to show some character today, and we did.
“I’m proud of my guys. We didn’t blink. We didn’t get flustered. We didn’t isolate ourselves and start pointing fingers. We stayed together.”
Oakland Mills 5 8 , Glenelg 4 8 John Carroll 5 7, McDonogh 3 9 Loch Raven 72, Chesapeake-BC 58 Long Reach 6 2 , Centennial 4 0 Atholton 8 0 , Mt. Hebron 4 7 Howard 6 4 , River Hill 6 0
Glenelg Country 6 4 , Spalding 5 7 St. Maria Goretti 7 6 ,
Loyola Blakefield 5 4
Chapelgate Christian 6 2 , Concordia Prep 4 7 Severna Park 6 6 ,
North County 3 3
Mount Saint Joseph 9 2 , Gilman 5 0
C. Milton Wright 5 0 , Manchester Valley 4 1
Girls basketball
Atholton 49, Mt. Hebron 32: Atholton is at its best when it plays fast with intensity.
The Raiders set the tone early Wednesday against Mt. Hebron with a 2-2-1 backcourt trap using athletic guards Keagan Williams and Kendi Caldwell at the top. That tenacious defense built an 11-point lead after one quarter, and the Raiders went on to post a convincing victory.
The win is Atholton’s (12-7, 10-6 Howard County) sixth straight and avenges a 49-35 loss to the Vikings earlier in the season.
“I think it has just been a total team effort throughout the whole season,” Atholton coach Julia Reynold said of the winning streak.
“At the start of the season we had lots of people go down with different injuries, so we had lots of people who were getting varsity experience and able to play. Now as the team is coming back, we are continuing to have different people come in and contribute. Whether it’s 30 seconds or 16 minutes, they’re able to perform at the best level.
“Now we’re working on building that team chemistry as we are headed into the end of the season with playoffs coming.”
Indian Creek 6 6 , Oldfields 1 4 Annapolis 6 0 , Southern-AA 5 4 Loch Raven 61, Chesapeake-BC 22 Broadneck 4 3 , Meade 3 0 Pikesville 6 2 , Catonsville 1 9 Manchester Valley 6 8 ,
C. Milton Wright 3 5
Howard 6 3 , River Hill 5 1 Marriotts Ridge 3 7, Reservoir 2 0 Long Reach 4 0 , Centennial 3 5 Hammond 4 0 , Wilde Lake 3 4 Oakland Mills 4 2 , Glenelg 3 6 Harford Tech 5 0 , Brunswick 2 3 Eastern Tech 49, Sparrows Point 14