Garrett opened the game with a 10-2 lead after the first three minutes of play, but some missed Lakers opportunities and timely shooting by the Hawk's Darius Hargrove and Jerome Goodman eventually sent a wake up call to HCC.
The Hawks would take the lead on a Jernavis Draughn jumper and close out the first half with a 27-11 run to take a comfortable 49-31 lead at halftime that ballooned to 61-40 after four minutes in the second half.
But a change in momentum was not far away.
"I wasn't really all that comfortable with how we were playing on defense," Brown said. "Garrett has been shooting the ball so well lately, then it happened to us."
What happened was the Lakers, a cold 1-11 from the 3-point range, decided to keep bombing away.
Darren Stackhouse and Kortaa Hall got the party started for the Lakers, and when HCC called on a timeout with seven minutes to go, the Hawks led by just two, 69-67.
"I told them that to be champions, you have to be able to play out of situations like this," Brown said. "Now it didn't matter how you got here, how are you going to get out of it?"
That answer came from Goodman and Hargrove. Hargrove's 20-footer put HCC up, 73-69.
But Brown cited both players' focus and drive in the final minutes as the key which allowed the Hawks to work out of trouble and build a late eight point lead.
"Goodman played big defensively for us and got a few extra chances under the offensive boards," Brown said. "We are certainly grateful for the opportunity to play tomorrow."
Region XX, Division I semis
HCC 86, Garrett 78
GARRETT COM. COLLEGE (78)
Townsend 2-7 1-2 7, Whetstone 1-1 0-0 2, Rockwell 0-0 0-0 0, Hall 11-24 3-3 29, Brown 2-5 0-1 4, Wass 0-2 0-0 0, Cooper 2-8 1-3 7, Stackhouse 3-8 2-2 10, Gray 2-8 2-4 6, Harrington 5-8 3-6 13. Totals 28-71 12-21 78.
HAGERSTOWN COM. COLLEGE (86)
Walker 0-0 0-0 0, Minor 0-1 0-0 0, Wingate 0-1 1-2 1, Picard 2-5 1-2 5, Kittelberger 3-8 1-4 7, Braxton 0-0 0-0 0, Bennett 1-4 0-0 3, Thompson 4-7 1-2 9, Jennings 1-7 1-3 3, Batista 0-0 0-0 0, Draughn 6-11 3-3 15, Goodman 8-11 2-4 18, Hargrove 7-24 8-10 25. Totals 32-79 18-30 86.
Halftime - Garrett 31, HCC 49. Three-point goals - Garrett 10-30 (Townsend 2-5, Hall 4-12, Brown 0-1, Wass 0-2, Cooper 2-6, Stackhouse 2-4), HCC 4-22 (Wingate 0-1, Picard 0-3, Kittelberger 0-3, Bennett 1-3, Jennings 0-2, Hargrove 3-10). Technicals - Garrett bench, Cooper (G), Gray (G).
