Falcons Continuing To Soar As Boys Basketball Season Hits Stretch Run

Every year, Severna Park boys basketball coach Pete Young sets a benchmark for his team: find a way to at least 14 wins.

With at least five games left, the Falcons have already eclipsed that mark and are setting their eyes on a loftier prize.

The Falcons head into their strongest three-game test of the season with a 15-2 record and everything still in front of them: a chance for the county and regional championships are ahead of them.

With the way they’re playing, they’ve got a chance to win every time they set foot on the court.

“You’re constantly on your guys about playing 32 minutes, but you know realistically in 32 minutes you’re going to play well in stretches. You just want to make sure that every night you play, the stretches get longer and more frequent,” Young said. “When you’re not in one of those stretches, you’re not doing things that are going to shoot you in the foot and leave you in a bad situation. That’s the hope, that we play well long enough to play on teams’ psyches a little bit, because that’s one of the areas that we think we can find an advantage. We’re not always the most athletic, we’re not always the quickest, we don’t always jump the highest, but if our kids are patient and play the right way, we can find an advantage.”

Severna Park had an 11-game win streak interrupted by an overtime loss to Severn Run on February 3, the middle of three games in three days due to rescheduling from January’s snow and ice storm. Nevertheless, they have been impressive in virtually every showing.

There was the second quarter against Arundel, where they blew the Wildcats off the floor en route to a 55-27 victory. That followed a two-point win over highly touted Southern, and there were comfortable victories over Green Street Academy and Crofton as well.

They bounced back from the Severn Run loss the next night with a 55-53 win over Old Mill, victory coming on Xavier Marshall’s putback at the buzzer.

The contributions have come from all over the place: Blake Coard, the team’s leading scorer, netted 22 against both Arundel and Old Mill, and his steal on Old Mill’s last possession led to Marshall’s winning basket.

“I have to not take a possession off and just keep working, bring the intensity,” said Coard, a sophomore guard. “We’re definitely better at shooting than last year and our chemistry is really good, moving the ball around and getting open shots.”

John Batty, a height mismatch on the perimeter, has added a mid-range and interior scoring ability to give defenses more to think about.

Marshall and Dash Havens provide toughness and energy down low, and Garrett Moden runs the show as the point guard. All can score, all can contribute, and Young said there’s not one player on the 15-man roster the team wouldn’t trust in situations where they can play to their strengths.

“It’s nice just to know that we have guys all over the team who can hit shots and get our offense going,” Batty said. “We’re not the tallest team all around, and we usually just play positionless, but we just try to box out and not get beat too much on the boards.”

Fresh off a 71-60 victory over Annapolis, the Falcons will face a more challenging final stretch: they have undefeated Meade on February 11, followed by Broadneck — responsible for their only other loss — on February 13. Then it’s South River, Chesapeake, and reigning 4A state champion Laurel to round out the regular season.

If they keep doing the things they’re doing well, Young feels like they at least have a shot to prove themselves in the final gauntlet.

“It’s like the old adage: you’ve got to dress for the job you want. You’ve got to play for who you want to beat. Every night if you’re in the Western Conference in the NBA, you want to beat the Lakers, and you have to play every night like you want to beat the Lakers,” Young said. “Right now in the county, we know South River runs it, Meade runs it, and you want to hope that if you play well enough consistently, it might translate to you being able to hang around later on when you play them.”