RANDALL MEDIA GALLERY
2023-24 VARSITY SEASON
MAR. 15, 2024- SEVERNA PARK VOICE.COM
Severn Basketball Breaks 30-Year Streak, Winning MIAA B Conference
By Zach Sparks | zach@severnaparkvoice.com
Since Severn School joined the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) in the 1995-1996 school year, the boys basketball team had never won the league crown. That changed when Severn beat Gerstell Academy 62-46 on February 24 at University of Maryland, Baltimore County to win the MIAA B Conference championship.
The game was a rematch of a Severn School win, 64-31, earlier in February. In the championship, Severn School never allowed their lead to dip below nine points.
With smothering defense and steady offense, Severn carried a 32-18 lead into halftime. Gerstell outscored the Admirals by three in the third quarter, but Severn School stayed resilient.
“Toward the beginning of the season, we would get up a lot in the first half and we’d end up choking the lead a little bit,” said junior guard/forward Jacob Randall, a Severna Park resident. “We emphasized time and score a lot in practice, and we really wanted to focus in the second half on the defensive end, now that we had a big lead, and we did a decent job of that. But (Gerstell) started to chip away. We were able to stay composed and stuck to the game plan, stuck to the script, and that ended up working out for us.”
Senior Kingston Price said, “One thing about our composure is just the fact that we all like to have fun, so even when things are getting tough, I just tell my teammates, ‘Let’s just keep having fun. Let’s play hard, and at the end of the day, things will work out as long as we are enjoying the game.’”
Randall led all Severn School scorers with 21 points, and he added six rebounds. Other big contributors included sophomore Sean Harvey (14 points, four assists), junior Daniel Growney (13 points), Price (12 points, 10 assists and five rebounds) and freshman Corey Dixon (four points, six rebounds and three steals). Center Bo Fowler made his impact felt on the defensive end with a couple of big blocks.
Severn School boys basketball head coach Mike Glasby said Gerstell presented a formidable challenge because the team has “players who can make plays and understand their roles” and a “great coach,” Jeff Cheevers. Glasby and his coaching staff made an important discovery while scouting Gerstell and used that as part of their game plan to limit Gerstell’s Caleb Franze, who finished with 23 points.
“Franze is a left-handed player and so conventional wisdom would say take away his left hand, but he is a left-handed player who likes to go to his right hand,” Glasby said. “And he’s really good as far as getting to the right side of the floor and utilizing space whether that’s with a sidestep or whether that’s with a quick move where he is faking left and going right to create space for like a floater or to be able to get to the rim, or to create separation into his jump shot. We knew we were going to have to be really aware of where he was once he crossed half-court and we wanted to try and provide pressure and funnel and keep him on one side and do a good job of being physical but then also accounting for him.
“With all that said, we also had to understand he had the capability of finding guys and making his teammates better, so we wanted him to see a crowd and hopefully when he did pass it out, making sure that we had active hands, we were getting deflections, and run from that point.”
The win provided jubilation for a Severn School team that had been making strides since Glasby took over the program six years ago. Despite losing 64-61 to St. Paul’s in the MIAA quarterfinals last year, Glasby felt encouraged that his team closed out the 2023 regular season on a 14-4 run. With seniors Price and Fowler returning, along with a group of younger talent, he had a good feeling about the 2024 season.
“Those were some guys, even with an older group, who were coming back and knew from an intangible standpoint, from a culture standpoint, what we wanted with our team,” Glasby said. “And so we had some young pieces we inserted in, and I feel the guys did a great job during the offseason, in the summertime, in the preseason, beginning to gel together, developing chemistry, working on different concepts when they would play pick-up, when they would work on their game, just doing a lot of things you see the signs of really good teams doing.”
Fowler and Price were especially euphoric as the team’s only seniors.
“It means a lot to me because I have played on this team three or four years counting the COVID year, and we never really came close,” said Fowler, a Severna Park resident. “I think we made it past round one in one year, so to actually win was awesome.”
Price said, “I had won championships with some of my outside-of-school teams before, and (Amateur Athletic Union) teams, but to be a senior on a championship team in high school is really big to me. I feel like I had a really big role and a really big hand in that.”
Glasby is proud because the group has been selfless, “whether it’s someone who comes off the bench and provides ball pressure, whether it’s a player who does a phenomenal job of cutting and providing space for some of those shots for Sean Harvey to hit, or someone setting screens.”
Coaches often challenged the players to hold a team to single digits during a quarter or even a half.
“That is not just athleticism; it’s technique, it’s focus, it is communication, it’s a willingness to give multiple efforts, it’s awareness, and it’s a lot of different things,” Glasby said. “And I really think this team was collectively on a string of doing that, so I am extremely proud of them.”
Randall attributed the team’s success to a plethora of scoring options who all do what is best for the team. That made the championship victory even sweeter.
“This has been a goal of mine for some years,” Randall said. “Even before I came to Severn, I always wanted to win a high school championship, and to be one of the leaders and one of the people to help us get it, it means so much to me. Words can’t even describe the way I feel and how I still feel to this day.”
Several players want to see the team get bumped to the MIAA A Conference next year.
“We have a lot of really good young pieces, and our resume speaks for itself, so I am really excited to see what the future holds for me and this team,” Randall said.
FEB. 24, 2024- THE BALTIMORE SUN
Severn boys basketball beats Gerstell, 62-46, for MIAA B Conference championship
By Aidan Thomas | For Capital Gazette
IAs the top seed after an unbeaten regular season in conference play, Severn boys basketball had all the pressure entering the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association B Conference championship game.
That was magnified given its opponent, Gerstell Academy, a team that snuck into the final postseason slot, hit its first two shots of the night, including a long 3-pointer from Tyson Galloway. That pressure could have easily started to affect the Admirals’ performance.
However, even with a young team featuring just two seniors, Severn delivered a poised effort worthy of the moment, ripping off a 17-3 run to counter the Falcons’ hot start, taking a commanding lead and staving off a feisty comeback effort en route to a 62-46 victory on Saturday.
The win earned Severn its first MIAA title since the league’s inception in the 1995-96 season and the school’s first title of any sort since 1993. The Admirals had last been on this stage in 2018 when they lost to the same Gerstell team. a paragraph.
“Just have fun. We were a little tight in the semifinal. Just be ourselves,” Severn coach Mike Glasby said of his pregame message to his players. “Stay home with our defensive principals … make sure we share the basketball, keep it simple. We guard, we play together, good things are going to happen.”
Indeed they did, as Severn opened up a 16-point lead in the first half and, despite some dicey moments, never saw it dip below nine. Four Admirals finished in double digits, with junior Jacob Randall (21 points, six rebounds) leading the way. Sophomore Sean Harvey scored 13 of his 14 points in the first half and also added four assists. Junior Daniel Growney poured in 13 points and senior Kinston Price ended his high school career in style with a double-double of 12 points, 10 assists and five rebounds.
We have a lot of capable guys that can make big plays on the offensive end,” Glasby said. “So our biggest thing is just make the right play, somebody is going to be capable of finishing it.”
For Gerstell, its offense revolved around the hot 3-point shooting of senior Caleb Franze, who made five 3s and led all scorers with 23 points. Junior Colin Toms notched a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
After Gerstell took the early 5-2 lead, Harvey drained a 3 of his own to immediately remind the crowd why the Admirals were the top seed and big favorites in this contest. Severn allowed just a single field goal in the final five minutes of the first quarter, putting forth a tenacious defensive effort that led to prime opportunities in transition. Harvey, Price and Randall all notched steals during the stretch to spark the Admirals.
“Our biggest thing was not letting up. Leave no doubt, that’s what coach says every day,” Price said. “We knew they were going to play their hardest, try to speed us up. We dictated their pace and played our game.”
Certainly, the Admirals put the Falcons on their heels throughout the first half. After taking a 19-8 lead into the quarter break, Severn came out and continued its stifling defense. It held Gerstell to two points in the first three minutes, while Harvey hit two 3-pointers for a 25-10 lead. With three minutes to play in the half, Severn opened up a game-high advantage of 16 points at 32-16. The Admirals didn’t make a bucket over the final 3:08 of the half, but their relentless defensive effort held the Falcons to just two points in that stretch.
“The biggest thing is defense,” Price said. “If we’re not hitting shots, just play good defense, and eventually we’ll make a few.”
Gerstell needed something to break right for them to get back in the game, and it got it courtesy of an unconscious third-quarter shooting effort from Franze. The senior guard hit four shots from beyond the arc as Gerstell made its charge. However, Severn routinely found its way into the paint with open looks and didn’t let Gerstell get closer than nine points.
After a technical foul and two free throws by Franze brought the score to 47-38, it was again the defense and transition offense that sparked Severn. This time, freshman Corey Dixon corralled a huge board on the defensive end and went coast to coast for his first two points of the game, restoring a double-digit advantage. Dixon scored just four points on the day but was a huge contributor on the defensive end with six rebounds and three steals.
“One thing I always tell my guys, runs are going to happen. Just stay locked in, none of that noise matters,” Price said. “We’re going to play our defense, lock them up and get this game back.”
That they did, as Franze’s hot hand cooled off, and the Admirals returned to their stifling defensive ways.
“Keep our defensive principles. Franze is a great player, we know what he does,” Glasby said of the message between the third and fourth quarters. “Stay home to what we do, don’t get worried if he makes a shot or two. We were able to stay connected and get stops.”
That proved enough as Gerstell didn’t make a single 3-pointer in the final quarter, scoring just eight points in total. Meanwhile, Severn picked up contributions up and down the roster, including a big-time block from senior center Bo Fowler late in the fourth quarter. Gerstell got as close as 56-46 before the Admirals wrapped up the title with a 6-0 run over the final 1:41 to close things out.
Gerstell returns only two players who recorded stats Saturday — Toms and junior Ben Martin. They graduate eight players, including Franze, the program’s all-time leading scorer.
Severn hadn’t even posted a double-digit conference win season since that run to the final in 2017-18. The Admirals aren’t likely to need much of a rebuild, as they’ll return all but two players from their roster. Price and Fowler graduate, but Severn returns everyone else, including five players who recorded stats in Saturday’s title game.
FEB. 22, 2024- CAPITAL GAZETTE.COM
Severn boys basketball to play for first MIAA B Conference title in 31 years after 43-33 semifinal win over St. Paul's
By Katherine Fominykh
The last seconds of the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association B Conference semifinal counted down, and for the first time, Jacob Randall had a reason to smile.
The junior jostled senior Kingston Price, who joyfully striked down the basketball as hard as he could. Their eyes were only on their teammates and the ensuing celebration. Off to the side, nestled between championship banners hung boys basketball, dirty and untouched in decades, with just dates printed in the top left corner: 1966 and 1993.
On Thursday, daylight finally peaked through that door. In what became their lowest-scoring game of the season, Severn was able to settle down and conquer St. Paul's in the second half, 43-33, for one reason: fun.
Down a point at halftime, there were plenty of halftime adjustments Severn knew it needed to make- but the biggest was mental.
The eyes of every hopeful Severn observer who wanted a new basketball title burned into them. The Admirals' own hunger for the championship ached. But if they were going to beat St. Paul's, they couldn't move through the second half like each mistake was touching a hot stove.
The only thing the Admirals seemed to want badly than scoring themselves was to frustrate St. Paul's. They held the Crusaders to only five third-quarter points and a permanenty abandoned advantage. Severn prides itself on defense, but Price wasn't sure if he'd ever seen his teammates jell that much on that side of the ball.
"We started having fun, that's what happens," Price said.
Bryce Matthews readied to swing the lead back the visitor's way, but Randall lunged like a shadow to batter the attempt down and preserve Severn's 30-28 control.
"You might not think of Jacob as a glue guy, but Jacob makes a ton of glue guy plays," Glasby said. "And glue guy plays are winning plays."
When the Crusaders did get shots off, it was like the ball itself rebelled against them. Simple layups and 3-pointers alike refused to fall. When Randall laid down his second-straight basket in the fourth, the whole Severn gym knew it was over.
"I'm proud of our guys- of the work they've put in and the work they still have to do," Glasby said. "It's not just the season, but a culmination, to get to this point."
The burden of being so close weighed heavily on the first half. Severn's' opening 3-pointer was it's last score for four minutes. Three-straight unforced turnovers greeted missed, easy layups- broken up only for a time by a pull-up jumper from freshman Corey Dixon. In addition to turnovers and missed layups, the Admirals missed their next 10 3-point tries.
Randall alchemized his mistakes. Crusaders ball-handlers would go for shots, tangle up with Randall under the net and find themselves picked clean. After Price stitched a bit of a lead, Randall closed the frame with a long jumper.
"I'm confident in the work I put in and in my guys I know I work for these moments," Randall said. "I wasn't too worried when I started the game slow. I knew it was gonna be and [Price] and all the guys toward the end. We were all gonna come together."
Near the end of the first quarter, the Crusaders began to find their offensive rhythm. Freshman Cahron Wheeler drew Admirals fouls and turned it into a 15-14 lead. Sophomore Henry Hatter and Matthews handled matters from the perimeter and St. Paul's took a 23-22 lead into halftime.
"Kudos to St. Paul's, they've been a thorn in our side since my first year at Severn," Glasby said. "They've always been a great team. And our guys were a little bit tense. But at the end of the day, whether shots were falling or not, our defense can travel. Our defense can put us forward and helps us win ballgames."
I.
2021-22 VARSITY SEASON
JAN. 21, 2022- SEVERNA PARK VOICE.COM
Student-Athlete Of The Month: Jacob Randall
Severn School Basketball
By Conor Doherty
When it comes to basketball, it’s uncommon to see a freshman in high school be a starter out the gate, but Jacob Randall has seized that opportunity, having led all scorers in his first high school game. However, it isn’t just his play and work ethic on the court that led to him being named a starter; it’s his volunteerism off the court that has impressed his coaches, both past and present.
Growing up in Capitol Heights, Randall played for the New World Basketball Academy, one of the top Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) basketball academies in the country. Despite his family moving to Severna Park to be closer to the school, Randall wanted to give back to the community he had been a part of for so long. New World head coach Tim Womack came up with the idea to give back, and so together with several of his old teammates, Randall did just that.
“This was our first year doing this,” Randall explained. “I wanted to make sure that I could help out my old neighborhood and make sure that some of the families there got Thanksgiving meals this year.”
Randall and his teammates distributed 35 Thanksgiving meals to families in need. Five of those meals came after he consulted his former middle school coach at William Hall Academy and personally delivered food to five families that attended his old school.
“Knowing I can still help out my friends and peers in my old neighborhood is just a good feeling,” Randall said.
Severn School assistant coach Juan Wansely said, “I’m so proud of the values Jacob lives by and executes. His off-court work in the community is exemplary.”
For Randall, it reminded him how lucky he is to be in his situation. “I know that I had some friends who were struggling and it’s good to help out whenever you can,” he added.
And while Randall was able to help his old neighborhood, he’s now turned his sights to helping out the new community he calls home.
“I hope that we can make a change here as well,” he said. “Every year, I feel like it’s going to be one of my goals to help out.”
Along with the goal of giving back to the Severn community during his time there, Randall plans to continue working with his old teammates to support his old community in the coming years. Of course, while Randall has those goals off the court, he is just as ambitious with regards to his goals on the court.
“For the team, I hope that we finish with a pretty good record, maybe even win the conference,” Randall said. “As for myself, I want to average around 20 points per game and do what I can to help the team win. I’m just glad that I’ve been given this opportunity by my coaches and the community.”