By JACOB STEINBERG | jsteinberg@baltsun.com | Baltimore Sun Media
PUBLISHED: December 20, 2023 at 9:40 p.m. | UPDATED: December 20, 2023 at 10:20 p.m.

Meade boys basketball is a brand-new group. The Mustangs lost all five starters, nine seniors and 92% of their scoring from last year’s Class 4A state runner-up team.

Despite that fluctuation, the Mustangs have maintained high intensity and camaraderie levels. That played a vital role in Wednesday night’s come-from-behind 77-74 overtime win over Atholton.

Trailing by eight with five minutes remaining, the Mustangs chipped away at the lead. Freshman guard Keon Scott connected on a pair of 3-pointers inside the final four minutes, while Ashton Turman buried a 3-pointer from straight on to give Meade a 65-64 lead with 1:18 left.

“You’ve just got to stay composed and keep the crowd out of your head,” Scott said. “You’ve just got to stay with what’s on the court.”

Scott’s triples were part of the young ball-handler’s 16-point performance, saving his best for the game’s biggest moments. Despite lacking on-court varsity experience, Scott is no stranger to the Mustangs, watching his older brother Kyree start the past couple years on teams that made deep playoff runs.

“Keon Scott is a special player,” Glick said. “There’s a reason he starts as a freshman. He doesn’t play like he’s a freshman, he’s got a lot of composure. He has been around our program and high-level basketball. I was really impressed because he didn’t play his best game in the first half. It was very physical for him and I thought he missed shots that he usually makes. But he was able to get himself composed and I thought his second-half performance was outstanding.”

Atholton responded to Meade’s late surge. Eli Applebaum flew in from the backside for a go-ahead tip-in while Amir Shaheed added a layup pushing the Raiders advantage to three with 21 seconds remaining. However, Meade (4-1) remained confident, leaning on its diligent work on time and score situations in practice.

Out of the timeout, Glick designed a play for a double screen to open up one of their shooters. The Raiders defense thwarted that option but the Mustangs didn’t panic. Scott confidently navigated a trap and found fellow guard Ashton Turman, who dribbled toward the middle and found James Johnson in the corner. Johnson drilled the game-tying 3-pointer inside of 10 seconds remaining.

“Our guys just made a play and James hit a big shot,” Glick said. “I told our players, ‘There’s going to be a time when we’re going to have to get a shot and get stops at the end of games.’ Tonight, it came to fruition. So, I give all that credit to the players. It was nothing that the coaching staff drew up. It was a great play by Ashton. They just had to freelance and James hit a great shot.”

With all of the momentum entering overtime, Meade played with the same relentless intensity that brought it success down the stretch. Scott opened the overtime period with four straight points, while senior Zamar Jones added buckets to continue building the lead. Meade’s defense held Atholton (1-4) scoreless for nearly three minutes. The Mustangs crashed the boards to prevent second-chance opportunities.

“We didn’t make the plays that we needed to make down the stretch,” Atholton coach Jared Albert said. “That’s basketball sometimes and this group will find a way to respond tomorrow. It’s just another opportunity for us to get better tomorrow and learn from this one. You find out what your true character is when your back is against the wall.”

That ineffectiveness offensively represented a stark difference to the beginning of the game. Atholton came out of the gates strong, taking a 9-2 lead behind seven points from Camden Thibeault. The Raiders forced several turnovers that helped them hold that seven-point advantage at the end of the first quarter.

Meade protected the ball better in the second and began trimming the deficit. Turman and Lucaya Baldridge Jr. hit their stride, but Atholton maintained its success from behind the arc. Josh Wright hit a pair of corner 3s to keep the Raiders on top at the break by three. The third quarter was a back-and-forth affair with the teams swapping the lead, ultimately setting up a tied game entering the fourth.

After Meade’s early fourth-quarter lead, Atholton regained the advantage with big shots by Shaheed. Yet just when it seemed the Raiders would pull away, the Mustangs leaned on that team-wide confidence in one another to catalyze the comeback. Scott, Turman, Jones and Johnson all played critical roles down the stretch with Meade showcasing its maturity in a comeback victory.

“It’s about heart,” Jones said. “We preach it in practice all the time. That’s how we lost to South River, because we weren’t rebounding. We had good practices and used it for this game."