Bowie Bounces Broadneck Boys In Region Final

This season, Broadneck’s boys basketball team frequently ran into teams that got hot, built a big lead, then fizzled out down the stretch as the Bruins made their push.

Tuesday’s 4A East Region II championship game seemed to be taking a similar course. Bowie got hot, built a big lead, and it was only a matter of time before the Bulldogs fizzled out like everyone else had.

Except they never did.

Utilizing four scorers taking turns getting hot, Bowie scored early and often, racking up a huge lead and keeping Broadneck perpetually at bay to seal a 72-59 win and a berth in the 4A state quarterfinals.

“They shot the ball much better than anything we had seen on film from them this season, so credit to them,” said Broadneck coach Jeff Starr. “We felt like we had a good game plan with mixing up defenses, but they just did a great job shooting.”

The Bruins tried a match-up 2-3 zone defense. They tried a half-court extended zone reminiscent of Syracuse University during its heyday. They tried half-court man. They tried three-quarter-court man. They tried the full-court press. Bowie had answers for all of it.

At the other end, the Bulldogs utilized active hands to disrupt passing lanes and rack up steals, complementing it with a dominant post presence that vacuumed up most rebounds. They took away star player Jordan Brown, who scored 35 of Broadneck’s 70 points in their semifinal win over Leonardtown, and challenged someone else to beat them.

In the first half, the Bruins were unable to make any real headway. In the second, sophomores Kamarri Williams and Ashton Sellman found range from deep, setting themselves up to attack the basket as well. Williams finished with 13 points for the Bruins, while Sellman had 12.

“Everyone tries to key on Jordan, and we have guys who can step up when they’re doing that,” Starr said. “Jordan did a good job of not forcing things tonight, and trying to find the open man, and Ashton and Kamari did a great job stepping up.”

Brown ultimately got untracked in the fourth quarter, where he hit his first field goal of the night and scored 10 of his team-high 17 points. Nobody else scored more than six, though, while Bowie had four players in double figures: Julian King with a game-high 22, Ashenafi Stuart with 17, Tremain Rowles with 16, and Nehemiah Johnson with 13.

Broadneck scored the first four points of the game, but Bowie quickly erased the gap. The Bulldogs took the lead on two foul shots in the first quarter and never trailed again. Broadneck got it back to within 10 near the end of the third quarter, but a buzzer-beater 3-pointer killed the Bruins’ momentum and left Bowie with a 13-point lead that they’d soon stretch to 20.

In desperation mode, Broadneck made one final push in the game’s dying minutes, but the Bruins could only get to within nine points, with 20 seconds remaining in the game.

“The boys never gave up, and they’ve been doing that all year,” Starr said. “They just never stopped.”

The Bruins end their season at 15-9.

Bowie 72, Broadneck 59

Broadneck  8    11   15   25   --59

Bowie      16   17   14   25   --72

BROADNECK (59)

Sellman 5 0-0 12, Smargissi 1 0-0 2, Williams 4 3-4 13, Aponte 1 0-0 2, Lewis 3 0-1 6, Brown 5 7-7 17, Baldwin 2 0-0 4, McGowan 2 1-5 3. Totals 23 11-17 59.

BOWIE (72)

Burns 0 0-2 0, Rowles 7 0-0 16, Stuart 4 7-8 17, King 8 5-6 22, Johnson 4 5-6 13, Kargoo 1 0-0 3, Utley 0 1-2 1, Boston 0 0-2 0. Totals 24 18-26 72.

3-point goals: Broadneck 4 (Sellman 2, Williams 2), Bowie 6 (Rowles 2, Stuart 2, King, Kargoo). Total fouls: Broadneck 18, Bowie 17. Fouled out: none.