Falcons Ride Defense To Remain Unbeaten In 3A

If only Broadneck weren’t on the schedule, Severna Park’s basketball team would be undefeated.

But then the Falcons wouldn’t see their potential weaknesses and have a chance to shore them up in time for another potential deep postseason run.

Heading into the final week of the regular season, Severna Park sports an impressive 17-2 record. Their only losses have come to Broadneck, each in a tense late-game scenario where the Falcons found themselves rallying late but coming up achingly short.

The second of the two games, a 47-41 loss on February 2 on Broadneck’s senior night, saw Severna Park rally from 15 points behind down to four in the final minute, with possession, but they could get no closer.

“You’ve got to play pretty close to perfect to dig yourself out of a hole, especially against a team like that. We made good adjustments; it just didn’t work out,” said Falcons head coach Kristofer Dean, who eclipsed the 100-win mark at Severna Park in late January. “They’re resilient. We’ll bounce back real quick. It won’t take much. They learn. We’ll take this as another learning opportunity, which is good, because some teams don’t get a chance to learn.”

Aside from the Broadneck setback, it’s been nothing more than success on a game-in, game-out basis for Severna Park. Since the January break, they’ve beaten all other comers: wins have come over Northeast (54-27 on January 22), Southern (50-29 on January 23), Arundel (51-12 on January 26), Old Mill (47-25 on January 29), Annapolis (40-32 on January 30), Chesapeake (53-33 on February 7) and Crofton (48-42 on February 9).

Severna Park’s offensive totals have been up and down over the course of the season, but the defense has remained consistent: They’ve given up 36 points or fewer in each of their wins, except for the game against Crofton.

Severna Park prides themselves on defense, “and we’ve learned how we were going to play defense against a team of shooters,” senior forward Ryn Feemster said after the Broadneck game. “We also know we have the heart to claw back.”

That determination will, they hope, pay dividends as the Falcons hit the business end of the season. Last year, they made the state semifinals, and this time around, they want to take another step.

It helps that a lot of the team has been there before, both in basketball and other sports: multiple players from the Falcons’ reigning lacrosse and girls soccer state championship teams spend the winter in sneakers and basketball jerseys.

But before that, there’s wrapping up the regular season, and then the county postseason, then regionals.

“Our mentality is to focus on the next game. We reset after every one, and every day we’ll get at it,” Feemster said. “Last year was a high for us, and I think it’s just the idea that we come from so many different sports that we use our athleticism to basketball. The defense that comes from athleticism in lacrosse and soccer helps us here too.”