Jan. 31—MCHENRY — Paw Paw gave second-ranked Southern everything it could handle for three-plus quarters, but the Pirates ran out of steam.
Despite an enrollment of around 70 students and just six players in its rotation, Paw Paw found itself within five points of Southern with six minutes to play.
But Southern eventually found another gear to turn back the upset-minded Pirates, 79-63, in the second game of the Western Maryland Classic Thursday at Garrett College.
“No energy. Lack of effort,” Southern head coach Hunter Broadwater said. “Finally we decided to play with four minutes to go in the game, and we pushed the lead from six to 20 in about a minute and 30 seconds.”
The Rams’ victory ended a three-game losing streak, upping the squad’s record to 8-5. Paw Paw fell to 4-10.
Paw Paw, with no player taller than six foot, came in as a heavy underdog. However, the teams entered halftime tied at 29.
Paw Paw point guard Donovan Tanouye, the area’s leading scorer at more than 25 points per game, was as advertised, pouring in a game-high 32 points to keep the Pirates within arms reach.
Tanouye swished several midrange pull-up jumpers and was a perfect 10 for 10 from the free-throw line.
“The kid’s got a great attitude,” Paw Paw head coach Adam Carder said. “If you have a good attitude and you have some talent, you can make things happen. He’s fast as lightning.
“I was really happy that he came out here and performed well. He’s a senior, looking at some colleges. You never know who’s taking at look at you.”
Southern’s top offensive threat, Jared Haskiell, didn’t play for most of the first half after picking up his second personal foul midway through the first quarter.
The Rams, who led 18-14 after the opening stanza, finally began to separate in the third once Haskiell returned to the floor. The sharpshooter made three triples in the third to push Southern’s lead to 56-49.
Haskiell finished with 18 points, second to teammate Brayden Upole’s 22.
The Rams are often undersized in the paint, but they had a sizeable advantage Thursday and capitalized in the second half.
Freshman Graham Harvey attacked the paint and finished with 17 points, Ryan Bird added 11 and Joel Campbell scored seven.
In addition to Tanouye’s explosion, Taylor Carder added 22 for the Pirates.
Southern is hoping to rekindle some of its early-season form when it hosts Hedgesville on Monday at 7:30 p.m.
“I don’t know where it went,” Broadwater said of the Rams’ effort. “We had it and just lost it. We got complacent I guess. … We played really hard at Hampshire. Really physical and tough. Since then, we’re going through the motions.”
While it was a loss in the record book, Paw Paw played some of its best basketball of the season. The Pirates aim to build on that at home against Timber Ridge, Virginia, on Monday at 6 p.m.
“A little bit intimidating for little Paw Paw to come up and play at a community college. Big deal. Nice facilities. They played hard today,” Adam Carder said. “We ran out of fuel at the end. We don’t have a deep bench, but I don’t have a lot of complaints.”
No. 4 East Hardy 83 Northern 56
East Hardy combined to score 49 points in the first and third quarters to roll past Northern Thursday in the opening game of the Western Maryland Classic.
The Cougars (9-4) blitzed the Huskies (7-7), 24-13, during the first eight minutes and extended their 37-23 halftime edge to 62-41 going into the fourth.
“I thought we did a really good job of utilizing our mismatches,” East Hardy head coach Chris Hahn said. “Gideon (Good) had a tremendous night out there. Evan (Hamilton) going to the rim. All the things offensively we were hoping to take advantage of, we did.
“Defensively, we were just such a presence inside. Gideon in there blocking shots all night.”
Good, a 6-foot-6 sophomore center, led the Cougars with a game-high 28 points. Jordan Teets added 17, Hamilton scored 16 and Joseph Price scored 12.
Northern opened the game up 9-7, but the Huskies couldn’t keep up.
“We’ve been focusing a lot here recently on boxing out,” Northern head coach Jeremy Johnson said. “We did it against Mountain Ridge. Still got beat, but we limited their second-chance points. We did it well against Hancock last night. I think we put a body on three guys today.”
Cole Folk finished as the lone Northern scorer in double figures with 10 points, and Bradley Strubin added nine.
The Cougars were playing without starter Mason Hamilton for the seventh straight game due to injury, but they expect him to return to the line-up in the coming weeks.
“It’s really putting a lot of key minutes on a couple of those bench guys,” Hahn said. “We called Aubrey (McCullough) up from the JV team. Between him and Trevor (Roof), those guys are getting key minutes they probably wouldn’t have got.”
East Hardy welcomes Petersburg (5-5) on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
Northern hosts Allegany (6-8) on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
Alex Rychwalski is a sports reporter at the Cumberland Times-News. Follow him on Twitter @arychwal.
