With Start Of New Season, Falcon Boys Basketball Is Soaring

Pete Young happily admits his charges in the Severna Park boys basketball team are putting up more points than he’s used to. Maybe even more than he would normally be comfortable with — especially from beyond the 3-point line.

Importantly for Young, it’s not the “Seven Seconds or Less” approach the Phoenix Suns implemented nearly 20 years ago that revolutionized basketball. More importantly, it’s clearly working.

The high-flying Falcons appear well on their way to their fifth straight winning season, sitting at 8-1 just short of the midway point. Their lowest point output of the season has been 49 points, in both of their Christmas break tournament games, a total they failed to hit five times last season. They’ve already cracked 60 points five times, which they did twice last season, and the 73 points they put on the Bard School was the most in nearly two years.

“It’s getting the kids to understand and buy into the idea that to put up that many points, you don’t have to play super fast all night long,” Young said. “It’s moving the ball and exploring every possession to get the best shot possible, that while we’re getting fewer shots, we’re getting better shots and more productive shots, and that’s kind of where we’re at. As long as they’re within the flow of the offense, everyone’s playing unselfishly, and they’re good shots, I’m good with it.”

In addition to that 73-71 win over Bard, the Falcons have beaten Annapolis (63-57), Westlake (61-48), Chesapeake Science Point (51-38), Hammond (49-40), Calvert (49-20), Glen Burnie (63-38) and North County (71-51). Their only loss came at Broadneck, 59-53.

The recipe for success has been pretty simple: ball movement, running offense, and a variety of chefs night to night.

Point guard Garrett Moden has played facilitator and run the offense well. He has had double-digit assist nights and nearly cracked 10 on others.

“One of the things that’s helping us the last two weeks is we’ve reconnected with Garrett. Garrett is arguably one of the best point guards in the county when he’s doing the things that put us in a place to get stuff done,” Young said. “The last three games he’s turning into a little bit of a quarterback, talking about what he's seeing and the things that we need to be doing better. His leadership and finding the open guys is really important.”

Sophomore Blake Coard pops up in double figures most nights while junior Xavier Marshall and senior Dash Havens are bolstering both the scoring and rebounding columns. Junior forward John Batty dropped 23 against Glen Burnie, proving that the Falcon offense is rapidly evolving into a pick-your-poison proposition for opposing defenses.

That could bode well with interesting battles against Southern, Crofton, and Old Mill looming in January, and a tough five-game stretch to close the regular season hanging on the horizon in mid-February.

“There are nights when we look like we’re trying to figure out, and there are nights where we almost have it figured out. The best-case scenario for us night after night, to keep people off balance,” Young said. “One of the things I’m proud of most is that our offense puts us in a position where it’s hard to determine ‘a guy.’ If we’re doing it the right way, we don’t have one guy; we have a bunch of different guys where you have to figure out where they are and what’s going on. When you’ve got guys who are playing well, three guys who are firing on all cylinders, it’s fun to be around.”