Jan 21, 2023 at 6:00 pm

HYATTSVILLE — Meade boys basketball’s triumph over South River began not in the second half, but over the summer.

Shawn Jones proved his abilities last year as a dynamic big who can dominate the glass, but his one Achilles heel had always been the free-throw line. And he knew that.

Jones made mastering the free throw his priority this offseason, and it paid off Saturday afternoon, as he went 6-for-6 from the line in the second overtime. His stability at the stripe was the key for Meade to finally best the Seahawks after 40 minutes of grueling play, 84-80, at the Capitol Hoops Challenge at DeMatha Catholic.

“I knew in the forward future that I’d be at the free-throw line at the end of games,” said Jones, who had 22 points, “and I believed in my shot. I just had to put them up.”

The ending never seemed certain. South River foiled Meade’s quick start with a heavy box-and-one defense in the first half. The Mustangs responded with physical drives to the basket in the second. South River wiped out Meade’s six-point lead in the last 30 seconds of overtime, and Seahawks senior Blake Burrows narrowed the margin to one with a bucket — even after Cash Herndon and Trashaun Timmons fouled out.

Meade’s Shawn Jones gets charged with an offensive foul on South River’s Trashaun Timmons in the fourth quarter Saturday during the Capital Hoops Challenge at DeMatha Catholic.
Meade’s Shawn Jones gets charged with an offensive foul on South River’s Trashaun Timmons in the fourth quarter Saturday during the Capital Hoops Challenge at DeMatha Catholic. (Paul W. Gillespie/Capital Gazette)
Not until sophomore Lucaya Baldridge broke South River’s last-ditch drive and turned it around for three points did the victory become clear to coach Mike Glick. But the Mustangs weren’t the only winner Saturday.

DeMatha, the storied Washington power that it is, hosted a platform meant for the best teams around the DMV. And from the organizers’ perspective, that included South River and Meade.

Both teams made sure those projections weren’t unfounded.

“The winner of that game was Anne Arundel County,” Glick said. “Gives us a chance to play in a high-level high school tournament sponsored by the Wizards. You have a lot of people who don’t know anything about Anne Arundel basketball [seeing] a phenomenal basketball game.

“It shows people in the DMV and in Baltimore that we’ve got some really good basketball in Anne Arundel County.”

Unfortunately for South River (9-4), it couldn’t showcase its full strength. The Seahawks lost starter Jeremy Berger once again to injury and only just returned starter James Crimaudo. They’re also coming off a week they’d like to forget: a five-point loss to Glen Burnie on Tuesday and a blown lead in a defeat to Southern on Friday.

Those setbacks were fuel for South River. The Seahawks might’ve lost the night before, but they could get better today.

“We learned a lot about ourselves and I was proud of our guys for coming out today, just grounding their approach, competing as a team and depending on each other,” coach Darren Hall said. “We got back to that today.”

The defense just couldn’t quite get it done. When the Mustangs got into the paint, they relied on their athleticism to continue attacking the basket, maneuvering past the Seahawks to find open teammates.

That’s what enabled junior Zamar Jones to hit his go-ahead 3-pointer — a sharp pass through traffic — to put Meade up 11-9 at the end of the first quarter.

Meade’s Lucaya Baldridge gets props from teammates after he slams home the Mustangs’ last two points Saturday during the Capital Hoops Challenge at DeMatha Catholic.
Meade’s Lucaya Baldridge gets props from teammates after he slams home the Mustangs’ last two points Saturday during the Capital Hoops Challenge at DeMatha Catholic. (Paul W. Gillespie/Capital Gazette)
Athleticism wasn’t enough. Not with the threat the Mustangs faced.

They executed their defense exactly as planned. By deploying a triangle-two against seniors Herndon and Blake Burrows, Meade could subdue two of the Seahawks’ best shooters — but not all of them. Timmons (22 points) muscled into the second half with a quick jumper and a pair of threes for a 20-15 lead.

“You got to pick your poison,” Glick said, “because they’re a really tremendous shooting team.”

It was by no means a stable advantage, and Meade made that clear as it worked to jam up the interior. The zone defense pushed South River back to the outside, where the Seahawks harvested another six points. But South River’s ability to slice through Meade’s defense diminished as the half waned.

Unfortunately for Meade, little was done to capitalize on that opportunity, as it entered halftime trailing 32-25.

“Definitely, we gotta handle adversity better,” Jones said. “We started to shut down. So, we came together in timeouts, making a little circle in the middle of the court, just telling each other to keep our head up. Play our ball.”

Jones cycled on and off the floor in the first half. In the second, nothing could keep him from the action. If he wasn’t batting down Seahawks shots, he was bounding down the court to put all that height to use to score.

Then, Xavion Roberson (21 points) came to the table. By his hand, South River’s last gasp at a lead blinked out as the ball sailed from arc to strings.

The senior point guard whipped to the basket over and over again, securing Meade’s newfound lead as South River fought back. Jack Schrader’s three points from the free-throw line reeled the Mustangs back to a 43-43 tie at the end of the third quarter.

Meade’s Lucaya Baldridge blocks the shot of South River’s James Crimaudo in the first quarter Saturday during the Capital Hoops Challenge at DeMatha Catholic.
Meade’s Lucaya Baldridge blocks the shot of South River’s James Crimaudo in the first quarter Saturday during the Capital Hoops Challenge at DeMatha Catholic. (Paul W. Gillespie/Capital Gazette)
“We haven’t had too many situations were we’ve been down and somebody’s punched us in the face,” Glick said. “They came after us, and we weren’t fluid offensively. We couldn’t score. I was really proud of how our kids picked up the defense.”

The Mustangs’ man defense hampered South River’s freedom indefinitely, and the teams warred for supremacy all through the fourth, right up to Herndon’s 3-pointer that tied the game at 60 before the buzzer.

Timmons tried to win it in regulation, but lost the ball on his last drive to the basket. When it came to overtime, he wouldn’t make that mistake again.

In the final seconds, Timmons overpowered Meade’s guards and knotted the score at 69 as time expired.

“Trashaun was huge tonight,” Hall said. “Just his toughness, his energy. When he brings it at a high level, we are so much better.”

The fifth-foul bug claimed Herndon first, in the first overtime, which didn’t stop the captain from steering his Seahawks from the huddle. But then it took Roberson, and with it, the Mustangs’ best driver.

Shawn Jones couldn’t just rely on his shooting to save Meade. And there was a reason he made himself the first one to arrive and the last one to leave every practice: to practice his free throws.

For every one of his six chances in double overtime, Jones lifted a perfect arc into the net. But he wasn’t the only savior in the end.

The Seahawks overthrew a pass during their last attack, and Baldridge claimed it before throwing down his third dunk of the day. The and-one sealed South River’s fate.

“To watch his growth is excellent,” Glick said.

The game, which was scheduled for last month until both teams were invited to the showcase, didn’t count towards either teams’ county record. But Jones doesn’t view it as a meaningless exhibition.

“It put some respect on Meade,” Jones said. “We started it last year, in the state [semifinal]. We just want to keep building on it.”