OAKLAND — When the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the rest of the world in 2020, Jared Haskiell was in the gym shooting.
The hard work paid off.
The 6-foot-2 guard ended his four-year varsity career with the second-most points in Southern Garrett history, and his free-throw shooting percentage this year threatened the likes of Mac Sloan for the area record.
Fittingly, Haskiell was the runaway pick by the area’s head coaches to win Area Player of the Year.
“It’s really cool,” Haskiell said of the honor. “It’s definitely a big achievement. We knew it’d be good competition between a few people. It’s definitely a surprise.
“(I want to thank) my dad. He’s been coaching me since I started playing. All the coaches that supported me through everything, they all mean a lot. A lot of time went into this.”
The award was decided at a meeting of the area’s head coaches on Tuesday. Allegany’s Chris Manherz, Frankfort’s Jeremy Phillips, East Hardy’s Jordan Teets and Paw Paw’s Donovan Tanouye were also finalists.
Haskiell is the eighth player from Southern to capture the honor, joining Isaac Upole (2022), Tyler Rodeheaver (2018), D.J. Ritchie (2012), Dennis Tressler (2003), Brett Rice (1991-92), Scott Stem (1985) and Steve Liller (1978).
Haskiell scored 521 points this season to finish his career with 1,390 — behind only Rice (Class of ‘92) with 1,828 and ahead of Liller (Class of ‘78) with 1,270 on the Rams’ leaderboard.
“Being able to have my jersey up in the school, that’s something to really be proud of,” Haskiell said. “Lot of really good athletes have been through Southern.”
Haskiell was fourth in the area averaging 21.7 points per game, tied for second in 3-pointers with 73 and tied for 13th with 3.0 assists a night.
Haskiell was also named Western Maryland Athletic Conference Player of the Year by the conference’s head coaches. He is a two-time All-Area first-team pick and earned a second-team nod as a sophomore.
“Jared had a great season for us,” Southern head coach Hunter Broadwater said. “Shot it well from 2 and shot it really well from 3. He faced some of the toughest defense that people played in the area because they just would not give him freedom of movement. He had to create a lot for himself with somebody in his face.”
The senior led the area in free-throw shooting, making 110 of 129 attempts for 85.3%.
Haskiell is just the ninth player in area history to shoot at least 85%, putting a scare into Sloan’s record mark of 88.6%, which he achieved for Westmar in 1994.
“He did a lot of that work early on in his career with his dad,” Broadwater said. “He’s always been a really good free-throw shooter for us. He’s always been able to shoot the 3.”
Haskiell comes from good genes, as his father, Tony Haskiell, was a talented scorer at East Preston, once pouring in 63 points in a game against Clay-Battelle in 1987.
Jared Haskiell nearly broke Southern’s single-game record 38 years later, tallying 44 points in a win over Hereford in the Southern Snowball Classic — second-most in school history behind the 47 Liller scored against Elk Garden during the 1977-78 season.
Basketball wasn’t even Haskiell’s primary sport through middle school, but that quickly changed after middle school.
“Through middle school, I wasn’t that big into basketball. Lot of travel baseball stuff,” he said. “When COVID hit, me and my dad spent pretty much every day in the gym getting shots up. We weren’t allowed to go to school. I really picked up basketball a lot more. A lot of alone time getting work in.”
While Haskiell’s limitless range was regularly on display, that was often a necessity due to his inability to get off ball screens through physical contact.
When he wasn’t being grabbed, Haskiell was face-guarded nightly once WestMAC play ...
