Glen Burnie sophomore Jordan Dailey’s emotions couldn’t have swung more within five minutes. In one moment, he was on the North County court for region semifinals, frenetically trying to pick the basketball loose out of a melee of Gophers and Knights.

But he and his teammates knew they had time on their side, if they could just settle down and hold North County back.

The next moment, he was screaming and banging locker doors along with his teammates. Yes, North County had beaten the Gophers twice this year. But who was going to the Class 4A East Region I final off a 62-57 win?

“We out-hustled them the whole game,” Dailey said. “That’s why we got it.”

Coach Mike Rudd knew his “soup” just had to cook a little longer. As late as the football season goes, his teams always need some time to jell. Now, they have.

Advancing in the region isn’t just about basketball to some of the Gophers. Many of them had their hearts broken together in football last fall. The idea of beating county champion Meade on Thursday will mean more than holding up a plaque and cutting down a net.

“Just knowing I get to be around my guys a little longer?” senior Braedon Buchanan said. “It’d be amazing.”

Meade has not lost a single game during the county schedule this year and beat Crofton for its 19th straight victory Tuesday night.

The Gophers just keep thinking about what happens to teams that beat them this season. Ask North County.

“They know we’re going to come for them,” Dailey said. “They watched us play tonight. They know what’s coming.”

Glen Burnie beat North County on the glass before the strings. That was the goal. Before Rudd added any plays on their whiteboard, he wrote “REBOUNDS.”

The coach knew North County leveraged size against the visitors, chiefly through 6-foot-8 freshman Nash Avery and “crafty” Kevin Burks. But if Glen Burnie could neutralize him and other finnicky post players, it could bear an unbeatable advantage.

“We wanted to make them shoot more threes,” Buchanan said. “We clamped down on the inside game and it really helped us shave points off their side.”

The Gophers’ rebounding, led by Buchanan and CJ Jones, denied the hosts second chances on both ends. And when Glen Burnie finally started hitting shots, it couldn’t seem to stop. All five Gophers starters collectively fueled an 8-0 run to take a 17-8 lead after the first buzzer.

North County was not the type to be suppressed forever.

Subbing in Jackson Catlin was the jolt the Knights needed. The senior splashed a 3-pointer and layup in quick succession. His efforts were capped by junior Carlo Pineda for 10 unanswered points.

But every step closer that the Knights took, Glen Burnie followed them with an eraser.

Dailey’s layup gave Glen Burnie a three-point edge at halftime. When Catlin at last put the lead into North County’s hands with a third-quarter 3-pointer, Dailey snatched it back immediately with his own. It would be the last time the Knights would hold any sort of advantage over the Gophers.

“I just had a feeling Jordan was gonna step up tonight,” Rudd said.

North County players walked back to their bench increasingly deflated with every passing minute. Fouls rapidly climbed on their backs and threw their plans out of alignment.

“I tried to remind them that we’d been in this situation before,” North County coach Trumaine Johnson said. “That we just had to go possession by possession.”

Clearly, the affirmations settled in Pineda’s mind.

The junior banked two consecutive 3-pointers, shrinking Glen Burnie’s lead to 59-56 with a minute to go. Chaos unraveled on the floor.

Bodies in red slammed into bodies in white to chase loose balls. If Avery wasn’t picking Glen Burnie shots out of the net like a bird of prey, Gophers and Knights were squeaking their shoes on the free-throw line.

It shouldn’t have been as stressful for the Gophers as it was. If they’d made half of their 18 free throws in the fourth quarter, they’d have some distance between themselves and their hosts. Instead, they made six.

“We better clean them up,” Rudd said, “or we’re going home.”

North County never did fully close the gap — the theme of the year. When the Knights had a chance to go unbeaten in the county, they fell to Meade. When they had the chance to win their first county title … they also fell to Meade.

But compared with where the Knights stood a year ago, a perpetual standings bottom-dweller? Johnson can’t think of a more meteoric rise.

“It’s bigger than basketball,” he said. “I genuinely enjoyed coaching these guys.”

Other boys basketball scores

Franklin 64, Towson 44: Senior center Reggie Asoluka and junior guard Khari Gregg each scored 19 points and Asoluka hauled in 16 rebounds as Franklin pulled away in the second half for a victory over Towson in the Class 3A North Region I semifinals Tuesday night.

Franklin will host the regional championship game against Milford Mill at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday.

Franklin (17-3) led 26-24 at halftime but pulled away by outscoring the Generals 20-11 in the third quarter.

Ironically, that’s the only quarter Asoluka didn’t score, but he made a difference by getting his teammates involved. Jordan Young had nine of his 15 points and Gregg added seven in the quarter thanks to the senior’s unselfishness.

“That all comes from Reggie,” Franklin coach Keith Brown said. “Reggie attracts a lot of attention and other guys have to step up when they try to stop him.”

Asoluka only had two points on limited chances in the first and third quarters combined. But when he got space, he took advantage with little resistance, scoring 17 combined points in the second and fourth quarters.

“He has a high motor, real aggressive and at this level he rebounds out of this area and he does a great job of finishing around the basket,” Brown said.

— Craig J. Clary

Century 56, Hammond 47: With his leading scorer quickly sidelined in the first quarter with two fouls, it became an “all hands on deck” situation for Century boys basketball against an upset-minded Hammond squad.

Luckily for coach George Wunder, he had a healthy and hungry Nick Baron.

“Nick Baron was huge for us,” he said. “He played his best game of the season.”

Baron, who spent parts of the regular-season stretch run in a walking boot, got his final playoff run as a Knight off to a dominant start with 23 points and 11 rebounds.

Led by Baron, Century defeated Hammond, 56-47, in the Class 2A West Region I semifinal Tuesday night. The Knights will host Southern-AA in the regional final.

“It was a tough win,” Wunder said. “Really proud of our guys for how aggressive they were tonight.”

— Timothy Dashiell

Mt. Hebron 64, Marriotts Ridge 55: Mt. Hebron coach Malik Gilmore knew Tuesday night’s regional semifinal against Marriotts Ridge would be like a boxing match.

The Mustangs punched first with a 16-point first quarter and efficient early offense, while the Vikings committed seven first-quarter turnovers. Gilmore wanted to know how his guys would respond and encouraged them to remain calm. Their answer was a dominant second quarter in which Mt. Hebron outscored Marriotts Ridge by 15.

The Vikings flipped momentum in those eight minutes and carried it the rest of the way.

“Coach just told us to stay poised,” senior point guard Tai Akinlosotu said. “We’ve been in big games. The crowd was getting into it. We came out slow, but coach was telling us in the second quarter that we really just had to sit down defensively. We already knew all the assignments. We just had to execute on our plan and once we started settling down on their shooters, five guys in the paint, rebounding as a team and getting out in transition really helped us.”

The top-seeded Vikings will host the Class 3A South Region I final on Thursday at 6 p.m. against No. 2 seed Old Mill, which defeated Howard, 81-78, in another semifinal Monday.

Mt. Hebron (22-3) better protected the ball in the second quarter and played with a renewed defensive intensity. The Vikings increased their ball pressure, which took Marriotts Ridge out of its offensive rhythm. Meanwhile, senior forward Ezra Yauger sparked the offense with 10 points off the bench, including a trio of 3-pointers.

— Jacob Steinberg

Joppatowne 45, Lake Clifton 40

Patterson Mill 54, Havre de Grace 43

Elkton 69, Harford Tech 51

Liberty 67, Smithsburg 50

Linganore 70, Westminster 53

Southern-AA 52, Wilde Lake 48

Meade 71, Crofton 24

Leonardtown 71, Broadneck 59

South River 70, JM Bennett 61

Atholton 61, Long Reach 40

Old Mill 81, Howard 78

Baltimore Sun staff contributed to this article. Have a news tip? Email kfominykh@baltsun.com or DM @capgazsports on Instagram.