CUMBERLAND — Allegany head coach Tedd Eirich told his players to relax.
Southern head coach Jon Hegeman said he knew the experienced Campers wouldn’t panic.
Both were right as the top-seeded Campers overcame an ugly first half with an impressive third quarter and beat fourth-seeded Southern 50-34 for the Class 1A West section championship Thursday night at Campobello.
The win pits the unbeaten Campers (22-0) against Williamsport (20-4) in Saturday’s 1 p.m. region championship game at Frostburg State. The winner advances to the state tournament.
Casey Roberts had 17 points and six assists, Dustin Wharton 13 points and Jordan Grady nine points, 13 rebounds and three blocks for the Campers.
Calvin Hilliard had 14 points and four rebounds in leading Southern (13-9).
The first half was no thing of beauty for either side, but with Allegany having just 18 points and an 8-point lead, the tempo was just what the Rams wanted.
That changed quickly, however, when Aaron Smith and Wharton hit field goals, followed by 3-pointers by Roberts and Wharton in the first two minutes of the third quarter. The outburst moved the 18-10 halftime lead to 28-10.
“I told the guys at halftime to relax. We had a horrible half of shooting, and when you are shooting bad you better play great defense,’’ said Eirich. “I thought we did that, because despite the shooting we were still up by eight.
“All year we’ve played really well at the start of the third quarter, and we did that again tonight,’’ Eirich added. “In the first half we were running our offense and getting good shots that we usually make. In the third quarter we made those shots, and we continued to play great defense.”
Allegany, 6-for-21 from the field with nine turnovers in the first half, was 10-for-14 in the third quarter and had only three turnovers in the second half.
Southern led early 3-0 and 6-4 after 3-point shots by D.J. Ritchie. The Rams had the pace they wanted in the first half, but their success on the scoreboard was tempered by 4-for-18 shooting and 13 turnovers.
“We wanted a game in the 40s or 50s. We wanted to cut the number of possessions in the game to 50 to 55,’’ said Southern coach Jon Hegeman. “We had the tempo we wanted in the first half, but just turned the ball over too many times and missed some really good opportunities to score.
“Defensively I was really pleased, holding them to 18 points.”
The Campers matched their first-half output in the first four minutes of the third quarter, and led 40-18 with 1:30 left in the period. Roberts had 10 points and Wharton seven in the big quarter, which ended 42-24.
“They went 5-for-5 to start the quarter and we just couldn’t recover,’’ Hegeman said. “They are so explosive that you just hope you can contain them. When they got up on us in the third quarter we had to get out of our delay type of mentality on offense, and look to score after the first pass or two, and that changed everything.”
The Rams were playing their third game in as many days, having beaten Northern 50-49 and Mountain Ridge 35-26 to get to the section final.
“I thought it was very important to pressure them all game because they had to be a little tired,’’ said Eirich. “We wanted to make them work on offense and defense and try to wear them out. I think we might have done that in the second half.
“Our defense and Jordan Grady’s play were big keys. Jordan dominated inside, played hard and had 13 rebounds and that’s what we needed.”
The scrappy Rams played hard to the finish, with Hilliard scoring six points in a 3-minute span of the fourth, and trailed 46-32 with the ball with 4:52 to go. But they missed a shot that could have cut it to 12 and, after Ritchie's two 3-pointers in the opening minutes, were 0-for-15 on 3-point shots the rest of the night.
“You never feel like you’re out of a game when you’re down 12 or 14 points, but even if we had gotten closer, Allegany wasn’t going to panic,’’ said Hegeman. “That’s a great team. They are so confident in themselves, and they should be.”
Mike Mathews is a Cumberland Times-News sportswriter. He can be reached at mmathews@times-news.com.
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