Marriotts Ridge boys basketball drops holiday tournament host Glen Burnie, 60-40

Dec. 28—By Katherine Fominykh — Kfominykh@baltsun.com

PUBLISHED:December 28, 2023 at 8:24 p.m.| UPDATED:December 28, 2023 at 8:24 p.m.

Turnovers and poor shooting from Glen Burnie boys basketball turned James T. Bogle gym into Marriotts Ridge's personal playground on Thursday.

The Mustangs assumed control in the first quarter and never relented, always keeping several steps ahead of what Gophers coach Mike Rudd reckoned was his squad's worst performance so far this winter, 60-40.

"A lot of it was being active," Marriotts Ridge coach Seth Willingham said. "We stress a lot keeping our hands up, limit passing lanes — I think that caused them some trouble. They caught us sometimes with some high-low stuff, but for the most part, we made them beat us from the outside."

It certainly didn't help that Glen Burnie (6-2) missed one of its best players, Eric Daniels, due to illness, but that alone did not sink the Gophers' five-game winning streak.

"They made us pay for every mistake when we made one," Rudd said. "It's hard to chase uphill all night, and we kind of ran out of gas there at the end, too."

For all the control Glen Burnie had established on the boards, it couldn't really blame Marriotts Ridge for so easily running the pace of the first quarter.

It was as if the Gophers installed plexiglass in the rim of their basket before the game and forgot to take it out. Shots rolled clean off the top, even off putbacks attempts. And that's when Glen Burnie players didn't overthrow passes for turnovers.

"That's been a problem. We cleaned it up a bit at the Old Mill game, but then these last few days, we're turning the ball over again," Rudd said. "We're inexperienced in the backcourt, and they're coming along, but boy, it's hard to watch sometimes."

The Mustangs' Rahul Jampan sunk a 3-pointer and Marriotts Ridge clicked into their scoring rhythm without much interference, rolling to a 14-7 by first quarter's end.

Defensively, the Gophers did rein in the Mustangs in to a degree. The visitors were consistent, but not gaining momentum. Jack Bonner accounted for most of the offensive output in the frame. But while Gophers like Greg Pittman, Davon McLeod and Chris Maddox made individual baskets, they kept digging a hole, trailing by as many as 13 during the second quarter.

The Mustangs' Res Whitaker and Bonner closed with baskets, the latter off a steal, just before halftime to go up 28-17. An early third-quarter 3-pointer from Jampan sent Glen Burnie to a quick time out.

"Our two keys to beat them were limiting our turnovers — because they press a lot — and rebounding," Willingham said. "We're not the biggest team. We always practice rebounding drills and we didn't want to give them second-chance opportunities. I thought we did a good job cleaning that up."

The Gophers, though, began kicking into rhythm behind Pittman and Zion Davis, matching layups with Marriotts Ridge. Considering the deficit, they were shoveling dirt into a deep ditch, but the hole was filling all the same.

A 3-pointer Tim Shadare had been chasing all game preceded field goals from Davis and McLeod, but Glen Burnie could not do a thing about Bonner or Jampan, who alongside continued scoring flashed their sharpened rebounding skills.

"Every time we made a run and had a chance to get back into the game, we had a defensive lapse," Rudd said. "We didn't get a rebound, got beat back door. Our off guard didn't check back on a long shot and they got a bunny on the other end."

The fourth quarter tumbled away as the first two had. Bonner landed a shot from the perimeter and iced the game with a final two free throws.

"If we're going to lose one, this is one to lose," Rudd said. "It doesn't count for county, but it's disappointing. They're mad. They know they're better. They just gotta bounce back and get healthy."

Likewise, holiday tournament games don't count toward Howard County's standings. That did not dim the beam of light in Willingham's expression after his team turned in a 20-point victory.

"That's a tough team from a tough county," he said of Glen Burnie. "For us, it's about building momentum. We got three young kids and a couple seniors, so keeping that chemistry going and keeping them playing hard — whether the games count or not — matters."

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