The message on Putt Saddler?s T-shirt serves as a warning for Aberdeen?s opponents: Pick your poison.
Saddler?s shirt refers to his son, Aberdeen junior point guard Devon Saddler, and his senior teammate Devon Branch, a shooting guard who claims the duo has more in common than a first name.
“I love him. That?s my brother, man,” Branch said. “We?ve been playing together since we were nine years old.”
That familiarity led the pair to power Aberdeen to the school?s fifth Upper Chesapeake Bay Athletic Conference championship with a 66-49 win over Elkton, which served as the fifth different opponent the Eagles have trounced in event?s five-year history on Monday.
The ninth-ranked Eagles (19-2) look to conquer more than the UCBAC, where they went 12-0. Aberdeen will attempt to dominate the 3A East Region Tournament, where it will compete against teams from Howard, Anne Arundel, Harford and Worcester Counties.
“We keep striving for that perfect game,” Aberdeen coach Richard Hart said. “That?s what we just talked about. We congratulated the team for the championship. And now we?re positioning ourselves for what?s to come next week.”
What?s to come for the second-seeded Eagles is a first-round bye, followed a home game against seventh-seeded Stephen Decatur or 10th-seeded Centennial on Tuesday. The Eagles are looking to make a longer run than last year, when they lost, 44-43, to eventual-state champion River Hill in the second round. Aberdeen?s last region title and state tournament berth was in 2005.
The 6-foot-4 Branch averages 14 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game. But the 6-foot-2 Saddler, who had four first-quarter dunks against Elkton en route to finishing with 31 points, averages a team-best 18.9 points per game.
“I don?t know if I?ve ever coached a kid that works harder, not just during the season, but in the season,” Hart said of Saddler, a three-year varsity player. “He?s on a quest. He wants to go to college to play basketball, and maybe beyond that. He works like a crazy man. His progress isn?t in the skills part of the game, it?s understanding the game as a point guard.”
Saddler?s energy is infectious to his teammates, including Branch, who delivered two crowd-pleasing dunks ? and narrowly missed connecting on a one-handed alley-oop pass from Saddler ? in the first quarter.
“I don?t know how he does it,” Branch said of Saddler. “He just keeps it somewhere.”
Saddler was all over the court against Elkton, making eight steals and wowing the crowd with a crossover dribble and numerous, no-look passes.
And just like the one on his father?s T-shirt, the elder Saddler has a message for which ever team arrives in Aberdeen on Tuesday night: “They?re coming to the Eagles? Den. We?re going to have it loud in there. And we?re going to play hard.”
