The Long Reach trio made sure of that by combining for 59 points in a 73-64 win Tuesday night. They don’t know their opponent in the Class 3A quarterfinals — the region champions will be reseeded — but they do know that game will be held at their Columbia campus at 7 p.m. Friday.
“All three of us had that feeling,” said Barnes, who scored 22 points. “I just woke up, and I was like, ‘Bro, we are not losing this game.’ ”
The Lightning’s victory snapped a pair of two-game skids. Long Reach (22-2) had lost back-to-back region finals, and it dropped both of its matchups with River Hill (20-4) this season, its only defeats in an otherwise dominant campaign.
The second loss to the Hawks, in which the Lightning blew a second-half lead, cost it a share of the Howard County title. Lazzor lamented a compressed schedule that gave Long Reach just one practice to prepare for that game.
This time, with his team’s most recent game having been Thursday, Lazzor had three practices. On Saturday, the Lightning introduced a slew of coverages to throw at River Hill’s high-octane offense. Hawks guard Braden Sauritch still scored 21 points but often found himself driving into a thicket of hands that forced turnovers.
On Sunday, Lazzor pored over video — “My wife was not happy with me,” he quipped — and refined his game plan before the final practice. In the second quarter Tuesday, River Hill switched to a 2-3 zone, but Long Reach countered with quick-hitting plays on five straight possessions. All of them were successful.
Saunders scored a game-high 23 points and dazzled on a fourth-quarter drive. Guard and ball danced in harmony as they navigated through defenders to the rim. Their waltz ended with an acrobatic layup that clearly explained Saunders’s nickname: Smooth.
“Honestly, that’s been commonplace now, which is crazy,” Lazzor said.
The Hawks pushed late, cutting their deficit to single digits, but eventually the final buzzer sounded and Long Reach streamed onto the court in jubilation, a celebration enhanced by an intimate knowledge of failure. After last year’s loss, Barnes came to the locker room “crying [his] eyes out.”
“Being on the other side is horrible,” he said.
Lazzor remarked how after defeats his phone largely sits silent.
“Nobody’s calling you. Nobody’s texting you. … You never know what to say when someone loses,” he said.
Tuesday was different — joyously so. Lazzor’s phone buzzed ceaselessly in his pocket as congratulations cascaded in and Barnes flashed a grin — both spurred on by a journey the Lightning hopes will continue.