After losing at this stage of the playoffs a year ago, Northeast entered Tuesday night with a mission to win a regional title.
Behind a standout, 29-point effort from senior guard Cameron Albury, Northeast took care of business, utilizing a massive scoring run spanning the first and second quarters to seize control. The Eagles comfortably dismantled Mt. Hebron, 71-52, to advance to the Class 3A state quarterfinals.
But after the victory, it wasn’t Albury, nor fellow seniors Jadyss Fifer (13 points) and Shamar Johnson (16 points) cutting down the final string of the net in the championship celebration. It wasn’t head coach Roger O’Dea, either. Rather, it was Titus Simeona doing the honors, a junior who lost his mother shortly before the season. “We dedicated the season, we told him we were going to cut down the nets for her,” O’Dea said.
It was a powerful moment and it reflected a program that is making a run for a state championship backed not only by their on-court talent, but by a strong program culture.
The Eagles have been motivated all season after coming up short on this stage a year ago, but they got off to a slightly shaky start, trailing 9-8 in the early going and struggling against an unexpected zone look from the visitors.
“We thought they were going man. So we just had to work it around a little bit, get our zone plays in,” O’Dea said. “We wanted to really get out in transition, rebounding on defense, getting it out quick and attacking the rim.”
It took a moment, but the Eagles managed to find comfort in their system, sparked by a few big shots by Albury, who drained a pair of 3-pointers from distance to get Northeast out in front. A few minutes later, it was senior Chase Buttry making a few big plays, including grabbing an offensive board and putting it back for a bucket, delivering a defensive block, and then dishing out an assist on the tail-end of another offensive rebound, helping Northeast get into the first-quarter break with a 17-12 advantage.
In the second quarter, Northeast upped the tempo, and in doing so, left the Vikings in the dust. Controlling the boards on both ends, with Buttry and Johnson doing a lot of the work in the paint, Northeast earned second-chance points as well as transition opportunities and bullied their way to a 21-3 run that staked the hosts to a 36-15 advantage with three minutes to play in the half.
Johnson’s dominance on the boards was no surprise. With college interest on both the hardwood and the gridiron, he has established himself as a dominant inside presence for the Eagles, breaking the program record for career rebounds that had stood for nearly 40 years.
“Shamar Johnson is a McDonalds All-American nominee … he can play out on the perimeter … but he knows for this team, we need him on the inside,” O’Dea said. “I made that [career record] a goal of his, and he really locked in on that and went out and got that.”
Johnson delivered the big momentum play early in the frame, leaping up for an offensive rebound and hammering it home with a dunk just over a minute into the quarter. A few minutes later, it was Albury picking the pocket of a Mt. Hebron player and going coast to coast for a bucket to put the Eagles up 14 points. With 3:05 on the clock, Albury crossed up a defender, fired a pass across the top of the key to senior Tim Savoy who banged home a triple for that 21-point lead. Ultimately, Northeast led 38-20 at the break.
At halftime, O’Dea prioritized a message of relentlessness to his squad. “[Mt. Hebron] came back the other day on Howard. I told them the game wasn’t over, the first three minutes were going to be very important. If they went on a run, we had to weather that run.”
The message was evidently received well, as the Eagles came out and after giving up a basket, ripped off an eight-point run. Albury, Fifer and Johnson all delivered transition buckets in the spurt. After that noted key three minutes, Northeast led by 21 points. And, as O’Dea predicted, the Vikings did engineer a small run, sparked by junior Julian Kelly (13 points). Kelly scored seven straight himself to close the game to 17 points with under a minute to play in the third. O’Dea called a timeout to regroup, and Northeast responded with a pair of buckets before the buzzer to regain a 20-point lead.
For Albury, he’s had his eyes on this title for a while: “It means a lot. Four years ago, today, my brother won regionals. I was there for that, watching him cut the net. Four years later, I do it, that’s pretty cool. I’m going to call him later, tell him I did what he did.”
Northeast advances to the 3A quarterfinals where the Eagles will host Patterson at a day and time to be announced.
For O’Dea, this win not only earned the regional title, but also a chance to play for a spot in the state semifinals at the University of Maryland. It’s a chance that O’Dea just barely missed out on at his previous coaching stop — he left City College to come coach at his alma matter. City won consecutive titles in the two years after O’Dea left. It’s also a chance that O’Dea earned back in 2020, when Northeast won the regional title, but saw the opportunity stripped away by the pandemic. His team was walking from the locker room to the bus to head to the court when the game was canceled.
“2020, when I had that chance, and didn’t get it…I’m a diehard Maryland fan, love Cole Fieldhouse, love [UMD basketball legend] Lenny Bias…it’s always been my vision and dream to get there. And I finally got there and didn’t get to step on the court,” O’Dea said. “These young men told me they’re going to get me there. We’ve got to continue what we’re doing. We’ve got some battles to go, but hopefully we get there.”
