Old Mill boys basketball is the team to keep an eye on. But the Patriots always knew that.
Every time a late shot didn’t fall in the fourth quarter during games in December and early January, Old Mill took the loss but didn’t look at it like one. The Patriots dropped five games to top Anne Arundel County teams Meade, Broadneck, Northeast, Glen Burnie and South River — and not one of them was by a deficit of more than nine points.
Now, the Patriots are riding a four-game winning streak, and their past two victims include two county championship contenders: Broadneck on Friday and Severna Park on Monday. A dramatic fourth-quarter shift in momentum powered by a press defense and transition offense spurred the Patriots past the Falcons, 57-52.
Old Mill mounted an impressive really and put an end to Severna Park’s nine-game winning streak in one fell swoop.
Technically, the Patriots’ record (5-9) still stands well below .500, but only January games count for the Anne Arundel County standings. So, the Patriots improved to 3-2 with the win, sidling up with teams such as reigning Class 4A state finalists Meade.
“Our record is not how we play,” junior Brian Poore said. “We’re gonna come to play every day. I love my guys. We’re ready to go to war against anybody. I just want the county to know: we here.”
Severna Park (10-3), which upset Arundel three days before, allowed a 10-point lead at the end of the third to unravel under pressure led by Poore. He haunted each Falcons possession like a poltergeist and personally flipped the lead on a 20-3 run by the Patriots.
Poore (nine points) plucked Severna Park’s weak spots after studying film, paying special attention to the Arundel game. He learned that the Falcons like to pass behind the back.
“If he’s gonna dribble in my face, I’m taking this next time,” Poore said. “I waited, sat on it and expected it. Then, when he lost the dribble behind the back, got the steal and went in for the layup and the and-one.”
That basket closed the gap to 50-49 and Poore’s subsequent free throw tied it. The two shots Poore earned on the next turnover tilted the scoreboard for good.
“I’d been here before. It’s been a lot of games, tied up, close over here in this gym under that rim. I want the win bad. I’d do anything to get it,” the Old Mill junior said. “I had to make the shots. When my team needs me the most, I’m gonna come through.”
Poore, like many of his teammates, lacked the energy to utilize it at the start of the game — allowing Severna Park to lean to its strengths, rebounding and 3-point shooting. The Falcons defense clogged the post, turning Old Mill’s layup attempts to litter and churning out a 14-8 first-quarter lead from the extra position. Upton Young (15 points), Tucker Moran (17 points), Brendan Abell (12 points) became immediate problems the Patriots couldn’t solve.
“I was just a little surprised after the way we played [Broadneck] that we came out so lethargic,” Old Mill coach Greg Smith said. “We weren’t aggressively getting shots off and we were playing poor defense.”
When Old Mill started yanking boards down late in the second quarter, it outscored Severna Park 9-5 with sophomore Bryce Daugherty’s trey, basket and last-second steal spearheading the effort.
But cutting the Falcons’ lead to 26-23 at halftime had the opposite effect on the visitors than the Patriots might have hoped.
An eight-point run to open the third quarter gave Severna Park the padding it would need. Both offenses met head-on collisions with opposing defenses in the paint and back-to-back scores became scarce.
But because of that early charge, the Falcons carried a 43-33 advantage into the last eight minutes.
Old Mill then deployed its speed. Junior Jaeden Simms flew up court, flashed a blistering pass to senior Jahson Moreau (14 points), who sunk a shot before Severna Park caught up. Moran replied with a layup-and-one to reestablish control for the Falcons, 50-45.
It would be the last basket Severna Park made. The Patriots hadn’t used their press often this winter, but Smith reckoned it could work in the fourth quarter. Sure enough, it spread the Falcons’ ball-handlers wide and locked figures like Young and Abell into double teams.
It was rare that one of the 10 consecutive Old Mill points flipped the lead with was stolen first by anyone but Poore, but others did get their fingers sticky: Daugherty (nine points), Jordan Penn (11 points), Shaun Tyler. Whereas the Patriots might’ve overthrown those transition plays before, they were making them now.
“I think a lot of it was a product of being impatient,” Severna Park coach Pete Young said. “Sometimes success is a little bit of a drug. You get a couple of quick baskets and think every one will be, and you get away from ball reversals and action that frees guys up for different looks. We settled in the second half.”
But a 55-50 lead wasn’t safe around the Falcons, even with under a minute to go. Moran drew a foul and planted both shots, priming the most talented perimeter shooters for a hero moment.
Abell nearly took it.
Severna Park set up Abell beyond the arc, but the senior barely had time to look up before Poore and Moreau filled his vision. Abell cut right but lost control of the ball for just a second.
And a second is all Poore needs.
The junior shot to the other end of the floor as the clock read four seconds. Brandon Tenenbaum crashed into him at mid-court and the whistle blew. Poore took up residency at the foul line again and finished the game.
“We just needed to figure out how to close games,” Poore said. “Once we figured that out, and started playing like a team, started getting energy, we could mess with anybody in this county.”