Southern sophomore Myles Brice’s smile stretched so wide, it resembled the half-circle perimeter the guard launched five 3-pointers from on Tuesday night.
No amount of settling down, fixing mistakes, returning to a game plan or even pinning fouls on key opponents could help Northeast catch up to Southern.
The two were never truly in a close race, even when the Eagles managed to trim their deficit to single digits in the second half.
Any time the Bulldogs felt their hosts on their heels, they set their feet just outside the arc and put Southern another three points ahead.
Five Bulldogs netted double figures in the 63-47 takedown of Northeast, buoyed along by 11 total triples.
They seemed to drop the payloads in shifts. Bradie Jackson launched his first to anchor Southern in a low-scoring, 9-8 first quarter. Gavin Crandell leapt from the bench to deliver a pair in the second quarter. Bryson Mims broke through in the third quarter by slinging back-to-back 3-pointers. And then, it was Brice’s turn under the spotlight.
Fifteen of his 17 total points sailed from downtown in increasingly unstoppable succession, split over third and fourth quarters.
Before he started firing, Northeast finally laced together some momentum, creeping within nine points.
Nonstop 3-pointers have a way of snuffing those hopes.
“Yeah,” Brice said. “It was pretty cool.”
A win like this has Southern already drooling at the chance to take on rival South River — still unbeaten in county play — again. The Bulldogs had the Seahawks in its sights for a time, until foul trouble to its two leading scorers, Mims and Daniel Lewis, restricted Southern’s scoring abilities in their Dec. 12 meeting. The rematch won’t come until Feb. 13.
But even when five Bulldogs, including four starters, operated with three fouls shadowing them, Southern’s play looked largely unchanged.
“Our issue over the years has never been one through five; it’s been six through 10,” coach Will Maynard said. “It’s good being able to know that if I need to go to the bench, there’s not gonna be a huge drop-off.”
There was nothing particularly lacking in Northeast’s defense that allowed Southern that much shooting freedom. The chemistry that flowed as Bulldog passed to Bulldog facilitated that long-range success. It was no wonder they amassed 46 assists in two games during their holiday tournament.
That same synergy helped Southern defensively.
Before settling down in the second half, the Eagles’ speed hindered them where it usually helped. Northeast rushed everything it did, practically dive-bombing the net whenever it had possession, but whiffing air and coming up empty.
“We figured that we were gonna press them anyway. But when we saw their point guard [Stephen Ferguson] limping a little, I was like, ‘Man. Let’s just turn up the heat on them,’” Maynard said.
Southern switched from zone to man defense. Northeast shot attempts suffered under Southern blocks occasionally.
Eagles senior Bryson Bradley displayed his skill in transition when he turned a steal into a basket. Senior Josh Howard drained two 3-pointers of his own. But jittery mistakes smothered that sort of success. The Eagles could count as many as three turnovers before one sustained possession, which the Bulldogs happily capitalized upon more than once.
“We might not have guys with size, but our guards are long. Somebody like Daniel Lewis might be 5-11, 6-foot, but he’s strong,” Maynard said. “We’ve been outsized every game and our little guards still give guys problems.”
Several experienced Anne Arundel coaches predicted the Bulldogs would land in the top three among the county teams. But even now, Maynard’s not willing to consider his young squad a favorite. After all, he remembers no one talking about his team a year ago, when his troupe of underclassmen finished top-five, region champions and with a better resumé than most other teams in the state at that point.
“We’re fine being an underdog,” he said. “We’re worrying about the bigger picture. We’re not trying to win a popularity contest. We’re trying to win games the right way, represent our school and community and make our alumni proud.”
Have a sports tip? Contact Katherine Fominykh at kfominykh@baltsun.com or DM @capgazsports on Instagram.
SOUTHERN — 9 19 21 14 — 63
NORTHEAST — 8 8 17 14 — 47
SO: Myles Brice, 17 points; Bryson Mims 12; Gavin Crandell 12; Daniel Lewis 11; Bradie Jackson 11
NE: Bryson Bradley 10; Josh Howard 8; Sammy Tetteh 6; Kyle Townsend 6; Isaam Flight 6; Taylor Johnson-Watts 5; Yusef Jones 3; Dondi Blue 2; Artez Anderson 1