Bruins Connect Dots To Reach Region Semifinal

Much of Broadneck’s boys basketball season was about playing the long game: trial and error, a slew of close losses, and figuring out which pegs belong in which holes.

“As the season was going on, I think it was eight or nine losses, and five of them were by four points or less,” said Broadneck coach Jeff Starr. “Just being in those situations, I told them, will help us. We hit a nice run toward the end of the regular season, and I really think we were hitting our stride.”

The Bruins’ penchant for problem solving over the course of the season helped them in the first round of regionals, when they hosted North Point and all those tight contests paid off as they turned the Eagles away, 42-40.

Already down senior forward Joey Smargissi due to an ankle injury, Broadneck was outsized with freshman forward Liam Sabo as their leading man on the boards. Meanwhile, Ashton Sellman and Kamari Williams struggled to play the two-man guard game. The team’s outside shooting also drew a blank, hitting one 3-pointer all night, and that came in the first quarter.

It was no surprise, then, that the Bruins found themselves down big in the second quarter. But they found a solution: bring Sabo out as a third ball handler, which made the North Point defense extend further on the perimeter and allow Sabo, Sellman and Williams to cut to the basket or feed the waiting Kemarri Collison beneath the basket.

“They were doing a good job in the first half of pressuring us and getting out of what we wanted to do,” Starr said. “We tried to think smarter and not work harder, and tonight Liam did a good job of basically playing the point in the second half, and the other guys were able to come off the ball and make some things happen for us.”

The changes were just effective enough for Broadneck to whittle their way back into the contest, and though they could never muster more than a single-possession lead, the Bruins finally made the lead stick in the end.

“We’ve been in it every game, no matter the record,” Sabo said. “It’s happened to us a lot, and sometimes we’ve come so close to coming back, and that gave us confidence to not be worried coming into the locker room.”

Though their run ended at eventual region champion Leonardtown, where they lost by 12, Broadneck was able to close the season playing some of the best team basketball they had all winter.

“We were trying to focus too far on the future, but when we were one game at a time, that’s when we got hot,” Williams said. “This is a family. I love my guys. I love my team.”

The Bruins will graduate five seniors: Smargissi, Jacob Aponte, Drew Cahall, Garrett Miller and Tommy Anglim.

“All the guys trust each other, that you’re going to do your job, and play your role,” Starr said. “They have each other’s back, and they really get along.”