Kenny Lipscomb says he’s “built for overtime.” He was exactly what Severn Run boys basketball needed on Tuesday night — again.
The Wolves nearly won in regulation until Severna Park senior Dash Havens tied it with 4.9 seconds left. It was the eighth tie, but not the last.
There was nothing Wolves coach Dave McNeill needed to say to trigger Lipscomb to action. He knew the senior guard too well.
It wasn’t the first time his late-game heroics secured a win — in this case a 66-62 overtime victory. He knew what to do.
“When we played Broadneck, we went to double overtime because of the clutch shot I made,” Lipscomb, who totaled 19 points Tuesday, said. “When I get to [overtime], it’s time to go.”
Lipscomb and Havens exchanged the lead for their respective teams, setting up Severn Run with the ball in a tied game with 47 seconds left.
The Wolves’ positioned Lipscomb to toss the inbound. He flicked it to Wolves sophomore Anderson Ellis and darted away, trusting the young guard to safely maintain possession while Lipscomb battled to the far corner. Ellis lunged into the paint as if he were going for the layup himself, drawing the attention of the Falcons to crowd him.
But it wasn’t Ellis’ basket to make. The sophomore swiveled sharply to his left and fed Lipscomb. Before Severna Park could react, Lipscomb’s 3-pointer already sailed over their heads and through the net.
The Falcons had 25.9 seconds to answer. A foul-drawing layup would’ve been the Falcons’ best-case scenario. The Wolves’ defense certainly made it clear that they weren’t going to allow a quick basket with a chance for another, hounding players to ditch passes before they could even motion for a shot. Five seconds before the shot clock expired, senior Garrett Moden’s shot rolled off the rim.
Had Severna Park reached the rebound first, it still might’ve had a chance. Lipscomb made sure that didn’t happen.
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Severn Run’s Caleb Adamah reached the ball first; it rolled out of his hands to Lipscomb for the recovery. He passed to sophomore Ricco Gough, who drew a foul before taking more than two steps, and drained one of his free throws. With three seconds left and a four-point gap, the Falcons knew they were beaten.
“Our guys just locked in at the end. They love big games. They love big teams,” McNeill said. “We’re still a little young, but they get hyped for big games.”
Including summer league, Tuesday marked Severn Run’s third-straight overtime battle with Severna Park. It might not have survived to that point had it not stepped up its rebounding.
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Though the Wolves mostly controlled the flow of the first half in which they led 24-19, Severna Park erupted the moment the second-half began — a Haven 3-pointer followed by a Blake Coard fast-break layup. The Falcons quickly created the first of 10 ties, then the first of six lead changes.
With every possession threatening to swing momentum, Severn Run needed to prioritize one thing: rebounds.
“We just had to keep talking,” Lipscomb said. “Once we cut the backdoors, back screens and goal screens out the way, we started getting on the boards.”
Gough exemplified that. Any time the big sophomore touched the paint, he scrabbled for the ball.
“He’s been doing that since day one when he got here as a freshman,” McNeill said. “He’s just got to get out of that younger mentality of taking plays off and keep it on all the time. He’s our best rebounder by far – I think he’s a top rebounder in the county.”
Have a sports tip? Contact Katherine Fominykh at kfominykh@baltsun.com or DM @capgazsports on Instagram.
SEVERN RUN — 14 13 13 26 10 — 66
SEVERNA PARK — 8 11 20 23 6 — 62
SEVERN RUN: Lipscomb 19; Xander Johnson 14; Gough 11; Ellis 10; Adamah 6; Connor Geist 3; Sebastian Richardson 1
SEVERNA PARK: Havens 15; Xavier Marshall 14; Coard 10; Moden 9; John Batty 6; Ozzy Jones 4