Huntingtown, MD – The atmosphere in the gym was electric as senior Ryan Albert stepped to the free throw line to attempt his free throws. Albert, along with his teammates, was nursing a 4 point lead, and was 3.6 seconds away from their school’s first basketball region title. If Albert knocked down one of his free throws that would all but ice the game for the Hurricanes. He missed the second one, but knocked down the first to secure the game for the Canes.
Magruder guard Peter Nankhuni took the rebound and dribbled up court and threw an uncontested 3 pointer towards the basket as the Hurricanes celebrated winning their region title.
The path Friday night wasn’t always clear for the Canes.
Magruder came into the game just having knocked off Blake on Wednesday, and the team was riding momentum off that win. They lost the tip, but overcame that with by starting the game with a 9-0 run. Huntingtown took that punch, and unwound a mighty counter, responding with a 14-0 run to end the quarter. They were up 14-9 at the end of the first quarter.
In the second, Magruder came back, tied the game twice, and then finally toughened up on defense and pulled in the lead at 18-16. Their lead twice reached 7, but by the time the halftime buzzer sounded, had shrank down to 3 and stood at 25-22. At half, the Colonels were led in scoring by Delanio Jessup with 8 points. For Huntingtown, Bryan Easton was leading the way with 7.
The third quarter was perhaps the most entertaining quarter of basketball this season. The quarter featured 8 lead changes, and 2 ties. Neither team could pull away from the other. The largest margin any team could get up by was 4 by Magruder. The quarter was a shooting display as one team would nail a shot, only to give up the exact same shot on the opposite end. When the dust of the third quarter had settled, Magruder held onto a 2 point lead headed into the final quarter. They were up 38-36.
In the fourth quarter, Brandon Easton broke free of his pesky defender, and had himself a quarter. Before he took off though, Magruder had a 46-40 lead with 3:30 left in the game. They didn’t score again the rest of the game. Meanwhile Easton timed his explosion perfectly. He keyed a Huntingtown run that elapsed the remainder of the game. He brought the Canes within one when he picked the pocket of a Magruder player, sprinted down court, made a layup while being fouled, and converting the free throw. With 1:15 left in the game, he put the Hurricanes in the lead on a driving layup after he shook his defender out of his way. With 18.9 seconds left, the game fell onto Easton’s shoulders as he stood on the line with the Hurricanes up by 2. He calmly sank both of his free throws to push the Hurricanes lead to 4. Between his free throws, his teammates left the free throw formation, and set up their zone on the other end of the court. Easton sank his free throws, and 20 seconds of game time later, celebrated with the rest of the Hurricanes as they had bought the first region title back to Huntingtown.
Final score – Huntingtown 52 Magruder 46.
Postgame, after the teams shook hands, the Hurricanes gathered underneath the backboard and removed the net. They advance to the state semifinals at the Xfinity Center next Thursday. They will play C.M Wright at 3 p.m.
The Canes were led in scoring by the Easton twins, Brandon had 16, and Bryan had 13. Magruder was led in scoring by Carson Grahill-Bland who had 14, including 4 three pointers. Bryan Boehlert also had 8 for the Colonels.
Huntingotwn brings the first region title back to Calvert County since 2013 when Calvert made it to the State Semifinals. They are in unprecedented territory for a Hurricanes team. They will look to return with the county’s first state title.
