1A Boys Basketball Playoffs

[beall02]

The brackets were just released on CountySportsZone site by the MPSSAA.

(1)Southern and (2)Mountain Ridge get the #1 and #2 seeds in the 1A West Region Section I playoffs and will earn a bye and a second round (Sectional Semifinal) home game on Monday, March 4th.

(4)Hancock will host (5)Allegany and (3)Northern will host (6)Fort Hill in first round games this Friday, March 1st.

(1)Clear Spring earned the #1 seed in Section II. That earns them the only opening round bye this section has to offer and a home game on Monday, March 4th.

(4)Catoctin hosts (5)Francis Scott Key, (3)Smithsburg hosts (6)Brunswick, and (2)New Era Academy hosts (7)Boonsboro in first round games for this section on Friday, March 1st.

The region is Southern's to win. I don't really see much competition for them at all. They have dominated each team in their section of the region. I don't believe any team from Section II has a chance. Only thing going against Southern is the fact they haven't lost in a while. Could that come back and bite them?? They would have to play pretty bad in order to get upset by one of the teams in this region.

 

[loco09]

I think New Era is the only unknown in the region, I don't see anyone else challenging Southern as they have not been tested by anyone else so far.

 

[beall02]

Northern defeated Fort Hill 65 to 62 tonight. They will go to MR on Monday evening.

Allegany defeated Hancock 71 to 63. They will travel to Southern to take on the streaking Rams on Monday as well.

Clear Spring will play FSK and Brunswick will travel to Baltimore to face New Era Academy in the other Section of the region on Monday.

 

[TDHelmick]

If the MPSSAA Sports Zone scores are correct, the No. 1 seed in the 1A East - the mighty Crisfield Crabbers - beat St. Michael's tonight 116-13. Ouch, which of course St. Michael's finishes the season with an 0-20 record. As a coach, how do you keep the score down with a shot clock?

 

[Waggle Pass]

If the MPSSAA Sports Zone scores are correct, the No. 1 seed in the 1A East - the mighty Crisfield Crabbers - beat St. Michael's tonight 116-13. Ouch, which of course St. Michael's finishes the season with an 0-20 record. As a coach, how do you keep the score down with a shot clock?

If Maxpreps can be trusted, St. Michael's lost their opening game this season to Snow Hill 102-10, lost their next game to Kent Island 100-6. Lost games to Cambridge 71-3 and Queen Anne's 65-4. They were held to 20 or fewer points 17 times!

 

[Redblue1]

The question is how can a team be that bad, they must never practice. Shot clock or not when the players on the bench of the winning team are in the game they want to play and score

 

[otnorot]

As far as I can tell St. Michaels hasn't won a game since they beat Kent Island on February 9, 2012. MaxPreps has a couple wins in that period but I think they are fake. When their girls won a game a couple years ago the coach told the paper that it was their first win in at least six years.

 

[beall02]

You hate to see that at the high school level.

 

[94ir14rog]

Shot clock turns off after 30 (or so)... Clock runs. That's really bad.

Can we please address this New Era Academy? Explain why they are in the west. They are downtown Baltimore! If they win, they'll have to travel to Washington CO to play Clear Spring and then travel to AC to play the west winner. Section 1 of the NORTH has 7 teams. Wouldn't it have made more sense to put them in there? Out of the west, they played 0 teams in the regular season.

 

[TDHelmick]

Shot clock turns off after 30 (or so)... Clock runs. That's really bad.

Can we please address this New Era Academy? Explain why they are in the west. They are downtown Baltimore! If they win, they'll have to travel to Washington CO to play Clear Spring and then travel to AC to play the west winner. Section 1 of the NORTH has 7 teams. Wouldn't it have made more sense to put them in there? Out of the west, they played 0 teams in the regular season.

A better question would be...how did Lake Clifton (who won the 2A state title last year in basketball) now all of the sudden drop to the 1A level for this season? 2019 was not a reclassification year.

 

[beall02]

When classification were done there were 8 basketball playing schools in all sections of all regions in 1A except the West. Both Sections out here had only 6 teams in it. That is the reason they put New Era Academy out West. Since the classifications were done several Baltimore schools have closed or merged (as they typically do) and now three Sections only have 7 teams.

I'm not sure about the Lake Clifton thing. I thought there was some sort of rule that allowed for out of cycle classification changes if there was some certain % of enrollment change.

 

[TDHelmick]

When classification were done there were 8 basketball playing schools in all sections of all regions in 1A except the West. Both Sections out here had only 6 teams in it. That is the reason they put New Era Academy out West. Since the classifications were done several Baltimore schools have closed or merged (as they typically do) and now three Sections only have 7 teams.

I'm not sure about the Lake Clifton thing. I thought there was some sort of rule that allowed for out of cycle classification changes if there was some certain % of enrollment change.

There were 7 football teams in the 1A South the past two years and 15 teams in the 1A North. If balance is what the MPSSAA was seeking they did not apply it to all sports.

 

[beall02]

There were 7 football teams in the 1A South the past two years and 15 teams in the 1A North. If balance is what the MPSSAA was seeking they did not apply it to all sports.

It is a bit more difficult to apply football classifications to all other sports due to the fact that not all member schools make the playoffs in football. No matter what, you always had 16 teams in the playoffs in each class in football, made it easier to put on the playoffs.

You can't really have more than 8 teams in each section of a region due to how they conduct the playoffs. If you had 9 teams or more in a section in basketball it would complicate the playoff setup. Don't get me wrong, you could totally do it, but it would really complicate things, not to mention give certain teams an unfair advantage.

Now that football will be conducting playoffs in a new way, I would expect the MPSSAA to try and balance out every region more evenly in all sports.

 

[beall02]

Mountain Ridge defeated Northern Garrett at home 60-48 this evening. Southern extended their winning streak tonight by defeating Allegany 61-24.

Sectional Championship will be played Wednesday evening at Southern. Rams vs. Mountain Ridge.

 

[cumbfanatic]

Good win for Mountain Ridge. Did their point guard come back or out for the season?

 

[beall02]

Good win for Mountain Ridge. Did their point guard come back or out for the season?

Not sure to be honest. I wasn't at the game. I live in Baltimore so I don't get up to many games except for football season.

 

[beall02]

New Era Academy defeated Brunswick 65-57 in one Section II Semifinal tonight.

Clear Spring just hit a bucket at the buzzer to send their Section Semifinal with Francis Scott Key to overtime tied at 65. More updates to come.

 

[beall02]

Francis Scott Key dominated OT and defeated Clear Spring 78-71. That means that FSK has to travel to Baltimore to face New Era Academy on Wednesday night.

1A West Region - Section Championship Games
Mountain Ridge @ Southern Garrett - Section I
Francis Scott Key @ New Era Academy - Section II

 

[beall02]

1A West Region Section II Championship

Francis Scott Key 44
New Era Academy 60
Final

Looks like New Era will be traveling west to face more than likely Southern for the Region Championship on Friday.

Southern leads The Ridge by 18 heading into the final quarter.

 

[beall02]

Southern holds on and defeats Mountain Ridge 80 to 64.

The Rams will travel to Allegany College on Friday evening to play New Era Academy out of Baltimore for the Region Championship and a spot in the State Tournament Final Four. Good luck to the Rams. They shot the ball out of their mind tonight.

 

[TDHelmick]

Will be curious to see if anyone from Cumberland shows up to watch Southern play New Era Academy Friday night at Allegany College. Could be interesting.

 

[Redwhite90]

Will be curious to see if anyone from Cumberland shows up to watch Southern play New Era Academy Friday night at Allegany College. Could be interesting.

Don't quite understand your post. Did you mean the Game could be interesting, or interesting to see if cumberland shows up?

 

[beall02]

I know they have done it for a while now, mainly because I remember it being brought up before, but why do sports with sectional play allow some Region Title games to be played at neutral courts and others not. Unless MPSSAA has it listed wrong... only the West Region Title games in both the boys and girls basketball tournaments are being played at neutral courts. No other region title game has that?

 

[beall02]

Don't quite understand your post. Did you mean the Game could be interesting, or interesting to see if cumberland shows up?

I dont want to speak for Todd but I believe a little bit of both. New Era is a big wild card in this region. Most teams havent seen them play. I'm sure Southern scouted them for this game. And with no Cumberland team in the final and the fact the ACIT is going on with BW playing at the same time... he probably is thinking about that as well.

 

[hbpass2]

Last year the region title game was packed and that was at FSU. Who thought a 500 seat AC arena was a good idea?

 

[TDHelmick]

Don't quite understand your post. Did you mean the Game could be interesting, or interesting to see if cumberland shows up?

I meant the game should be interesting. Few around the western part of the state familiar with New Era. Southern coaches tell me they are pretty good. And as well I will be curious to see if any Cumberland people show up at AC to see good basketball despite none of the county teams being involved. I see the game is now set for Saturday at 6:00. I'm going. If the game were in Frederick or Oakland I would not go, which is normal for when you have no poker in the fire.

It's like when the ACC Tournament or the NCAA Tournament would come to DC. Despite Maryland not being involved locals still showed up in appreciation for good playoff basketball. Cumberland I'm not so sure when it comes to basketball enthusiasm.

 

[beall02]

I meant the game should be interesting. Few around the western part of the state familiar with New Era. Southern coaches tell me they are pretty good. And as well I will be curious to see if any Cumberland people show up at AC to see good basketball despite none of the county teams being involved. I see the game is now set for Saturday at 6:00. I'm going. If the game were in Frederick or Oakland I would not go, which is normal for when you have no poker in the fire.

That is going to be a nice setup for the Southern fans. Girls game at 4 and then the boys follow. Should help for attendance.

 

[Redwhite90]

Southern over New Era 23-13 at half. Physical game

 

[Waggle Pass]

Southern wins 49-44

 

[beall02]

Congrats to the Rams. 49 to 44 winners over New Era Academy. Good luck in the State Tournament.

 

[Redwhite90]

Southern 49 New Era 44. New Era athletic as predicted.. a little less controlled than Southern but forced Southern into frequent turnovers.

 

[beall02]

Looks like Southern will face Crisfield in the Semifinals. They opened the playoffs by hanging 100 on both of their first two opponents. They have only lost twice this season, as have the Rams, Crisfield lost to Dunbar and Wicomico. They were their two toughest games this year.

The Rams shouldn't overlook them. If they get past Crisfield they will face another tough game in the final.

Good luck to the boys. Hope to see them bring a Championship to Western MD.

 

[cumbfanatic]

Crisfield is the team that beat St. Michaels 116 - 13

 

[Waggle Pass]

Looks like Southern will face Crisfield in the Semifinals. They opened the playoffs by hanging 100 on both of their first two opponents. They have only lost twice this season, as have the Rams, Crisfield lost to Dunbar and Wicomico. They were their two toughest games this year.

The Rams shouldn't overlook them. If they get past Crisfield they will face another tough game in the final.

Good luck to the boys. Hope to see them bring a Championship to Western MD.

Crisfield beat previously unbeaten Havre de Grace at Havre de Grace to make the semis. Maybe it's they who shouldn't overlook Southern.

 

[beall02]

Crisfield beat previously unbeaten Havre de Grace at Havre de Grace to make the semis. Maybe it's they who shouldn't overlook Southern.

Don't really understand your argument here. If anything that just makes my statement even more true for Southern not to overlook Crisfield.

 

[otnorot]

I saw Crisfield lose to Dunbar at the Governor's Challenge. Dunbar was able to control the tempo and Crisfield struggled in the halfcourt game.

 

[Waggle Pass]

Don't really understand your argument here. If anything that just makes my statement even more true for Southern not to overlook Crisfield.

As you posted yourself, they hung 100 on two teams already, beat an undefeated team on their home court, so why would they think Southern would put up any more of a challenge?

 

[beall02]

As you posted yourself, they hung 100 on two teams already, beat an undefeated team on their home court, so why would they think Southern would put up any more of a challenge?

We tend to overlook teams not from this area a lot and when it comes to Crisfield... not only do they have a strong team this year... they do have 8 state titles in basketball in their history. Some people will look at the fact they hung a 100 on their first two opponents in the playoffs and that will jump out at them. Southern should be able to set the tempo. The question will be at what tempo do the Rams want to play at. They have played a slow half court one and a fast paced transition one this season already.

To answer your question... Southern is on a 19 or 20 game winning streak. The only two losses they have this year are to private schools. Crisfield knows, as does Southern, who they will be getting in the State Semi's.

 

[beall02]

I saw Crisfield lose to Dunbar at the Governor's Challenge. Dunbar was able to control the tempo and Crisfield struggled in the halfcourt game.

I think this should be Southern's game plan come game time. I don't think they want to get in an up and down type game.

 

[Redwhite90]

Southern has always prided itself on tough man to man defense so I think they can slow the pace if needed. If they protect the ball and cut down on the turnovers, then they can dictate the play against the quicker , more athletic down-state teams. Every player on the court is a decent ball handler. The problem comes when they try to make that EXTRA pass against these teams with quicker hands and higher ups than they are used to playing .