Hammond's boys basketball team is struggling for an identity.
The Bears have a new, strong-willed coach, Mike Mongelli, who insists on a disciplined style of basketball. But not all of his players identify with that style.
For three quarters last night against Edgewood, the Bears stayed with the Rams by concentrating on running the offense and on working for the good shot -- most of the time.
But during a 15-point Edgewood run that overlapped the third and fourth quarters, that discipline unwound and Edgewood pulled away to a 59-44 win.
It was Hammond's second loss against three victories.
"We have to run our offense and take care of the ball in order to win," Mongelli said. "If our guys read their stats and try to play up to them, then we're in trouble and will be putting up wild shots."
Edgewood coach Bob Slagle, whose team had lost to Atholton by 17 points earlier this season, theorized on what happened to Hammond.
"If a team gets a mini-run like we did, then the other team sometimes tries to get it back too quickly and that's what Hammond did. We played 32 minutes of smart ball tonight, and we needed this win to get our confidence up. This is the first win a Harford County team has had against Howard County teams this season.'"
Harford was 0-6 against Howard. Edgewood (2-2) had lost to St. Frances in its last outing.
"Hammond pressed us the whole game just like Atholton, but Hammond's was a more passive press," Slagle said. "We broke the press fairly easily and ran our half-court offense well tonight."
Offensively, Hammond was inconsistent. The Bears made only two of nine shots in the first quarter, and fell behind 14-9.
The Bears gave up a 10-point run to Edgewood at the end of that quarter.
In the second period, Hammond made five of 11 shots and looked as though they could play tough against Edgewood until the end of the game.
Hammond looked even better in the third quarter, sinking seven of 10 shots and taking the lead three times before falling behind 39-35 at the end of the period.
But the Bears, who committed 19 turnovers, many of them on poor passes, fell apart early in the fourth period and made just two of nine shots that quarter.
Neither team possessed a strong inside game, although forward De- Von Montoute (13 points) has averaged 20 points for the Bears.
Edgewood liked to shoot from three-point range, hitting on six of 15 attempts from beyond the arc.
Chris Findlay (18 points) sank four three-pointers for the Rams.
Hammond shot only twice from three-point range and sank both.
"Shooting threes is not our game," Mongelli said. "We want to work it inside and get other teams in foul trouble."