By Ben Spector
GERMANTOWN- For a team that had started off their season with just one win in three games, the Seneca Valley Screamin’ Eagles really hadn’t played like their record indicated.
A 69-67 win over Bethesda Chevy-Chase who was a state finalist in the 4A boys basketball tournament just a year ago, a 13 point loss to Springbrook and a 8 point loss to Sherwood, who are both high ranked 4A opponents were all the Screamin’ Eagles had to show for. And that necessarily wasn’t a bad thing.
There they stood, down 6-0 early to the Rockville Rams in the fourth game of their season with Rams senior Essex Thompson and his 4 points leading the way for his team early. It could have been an “Oh, here we go again,” moment for the Screamin’ Eagles.
But, they weren’t worried.
“Some games we start off strong. Some games we start off slow,” said Seneca Valley guard Brandon Simpson who led the Screamin’ Eagles with a big night. “This was a slow starting game, but we picked it up out there.”
Seneca Valley would most certainly pick it up, going on a 18-6 run to end the first quarter, giving the Screamin’ Eagles a 18-12 lead to which they would never look back from coasting the rest of the way to a 77-47 win over Rockville.
Seneca Valley bumped their record up to 2-2 behind Simpson who had a double-double with 21 points (12 of which came in the first half) and 11 rebounds. Simpson also added four steals to cap off his night. It wasn’t just Simpson who was hitting pay dirt on the offensive side of the ball as Seneca Valley had four players in double digits Wednesday with Andrew Dantzer, Tyran Crawford and forward Kareem Matthew putting up 10, 12, and 10 respectively for Seneca Valley who hit their season high in points scored.
Even more indicative of the large offensive success for the Screamin’ Eagles was that out of the 12 players on their roster, 11 would record points with the likes of role players such as Clarence Gaskins and Bryson Faison getting a chance to come in the game late and get a chance at buckets.
With everything going right for Seneca Valley even Gaskins and Faison got on the board with the former shooting a picturesque jumper, which received a large cheer from his teammates.
The team depth was a sweet sight for the Screamin’ Eagles as they would needed a strong team effort to stop the Rams and their leading scorer Ben Wiebusch who had 22 for the Rams, going 6-15 from the field and 9-11 from the line.
“We played Ben (Wiebusch) three times last year including in the playoffs. We know Ben very well,” said Seneca Valley head coach Brian Humphrey. “Ben is an awesome player. In my opinion, he is easily one of the best players in the county.”
And, while Seneca Valley didn’t necessarily limit Wiebusch tonight, they did limit his surrounding cast of support as outside of Wiebusch the next highest scorer for the Rams were Essex Thompson and Joshua Deville who both had just 6. Limiting Wiebusch and Thompson was the main goal for the Screamin’ Eagles and even though one broke out for a big night shutting down Thompson and others was enough to give Seneca Valley win.
“We tried to take Essex away too,” said Humphrey. “From there we just wanted to make sure that we closed around everyone else. They were the gameplan.”
At the half, the Screamin’ Eagles had taken a one point lead and from there it was all academic for the team in green, white, and yellow as they would high-step to a win against a division foe in Rockville.
For a team that now had a record at 2-2 and one that could possibly be at any 4-0 it would’ve been easy for any coach to curse out the luck and the results that would’ve caused his team to be in a situation like this.
For Humphrey, it was all part of the process.
“We had a played a very difficult 4A schedule to begin. Those games kind of battle test you a little bit.”
Seneca Valley proved that they’ll be ready to pass a large majority of the tests that come their way in the future.
You can follow me on Twitter at @bspec21 and Maryland Sports Access at @MDSportsAccess.
