Brown Leads Broadneck Boys’ Stunning Rally To Beat Severna Park

At a stoppage midway through the third quarter of Friday’s boys basketball showdown between Broadneck and Severna Park, senior guard Jordan Brown hunched over as he waited for the inbounds pass, tugging at his shorts and trying to catch his breath.

To that point, the Bruins had been beleaguered, battered and simply overwhelmed. They trailed the Falcons by 20 points, and while there was still time left in the game, there was no time for Broadneck’s tired star to rest.

Brown steadied himself as the ball came into play, and he headed up the court hoping to spark the Bruins up what felt like an impossible mountain. The third quarter came and went, but the fourth period served up hall-of-legends material.

Having withstood Severna Park’s heaviest punch, the Bruins mounted a furious rally, overhauling their deficit in rapid-fire fashion to stun the Falcons 57-56 and leave the home players, crowd and staff shell-shocked.

Broadneck trailed by 21 after one quarter, by 19 at halftime, and still by 16 headed into the final six minutes. Despite the massive gap, they never panicked. And the senior guard who wouldn’t take a rest simply wouldn’t let his team lose.

“Coach (Jeff Starr) said that I needed to take charge and be a leader, and I wasn’t doing that in the first half. If you’re not being a dawg, you’re not going to win,” said Brown, who scored 25 of his game-high 31 points in the second half. “Coach got us right in that locker room speech. Our energy was unmatched, and guys were all over the place, playing like a team unlike that first half. The goal was just to win. Next point, next point and the next.”

Brown was supported by nine points from Shawn Lewis and seven from Kamari Williams. Severna Park was led by 19 points from Brendan Abell, including three 3-pointers, and 10 from Upton Young. The Falcons got nine points apiece from Liam Cleary, Tucker Moran and Charlie Hartman.

Severna Park looked ready to knock Broadneck out early, scoring the first 18 points of the game and leading 22-1 after the first period. Though the Bruins tirelessly tried to close the gap, the Falcons mostly held firm and their lead sat at 16 points with just six minutes left to play.

Depending on which side of the divide one falls, that’s when it either all came together, or it all fell apart. The Bruins suddenly came to life and the Falcons had a sense of déjà vu with another lead slipping from their grasp. In the next three minutes, 53 seconds, Broadneck completely erased the deficit and tied the game at 53.

Severna Park retook the lead twice, but Drew Cahall’s free throws with 12 seconds remaining gave the Bruins their first, and only, lead of the night. The Falcons’ last shot was a runner in the lane that was too strong, and though they retained possession after the shot, time expired before they could get a second attempt off.

That spurred raucous celebrations from the visiting players and fans, as they basked in a comeback that will live long in the halls of Broadneck High School.

“We just kept saying that there’s still time, and we just needed to chip away. Once it gets to under 10, it’s just a couple of possession game, and we started hitting shots and holding them to one shot,” Starr said. “We got to the fourth quarter, and it was attainable, and then we felt comfortable that we had the ability to come back. Any kind of game like this is exciting. Just the momentum when you get a big comeback like that, it feels good.”

The Falcons, however, were left again to rue letting a big lead slip away, just as they had done earlier in the week against Arundel.

“There was some, ‘Here we go again,’” said Severna Park coach Pete Young. “I thought we did OK in the moment, and we were able to get the lead back. We just need more experience in that situation, and we need to finish one and then I think we’ll be OK. It’s a tough one for sure, but we still have 16, 18 games left in the season. Now we just have to find a way to get to 2-2.”