Parkville heats up in second half for victory
Knights will meet Titans again in county championship game
The intensity and energy was full blast from the start Friday night when Baltimore County’s top two boys basketball teams — No. 6 New Town at No. 2 Parkville — closed out the regular season.
The second half is when the host and undefeated Knights locked in.
Leaning on its two star players — Sincere Barfield and Caron Smith — Parkville took control of a close game at the start of the third quarter and held off a late push from the Titans to secure an 82-74 win.
Barfield’s fine all-around game included a momentum-changing, fourth-quarter dunk to highlight his 27 points, while Smith’s hot shooting from the 3-point line led to 24 points. The teams will meet again in the Baltimore County championship game, set for 5 p.m. Tuesday at Parkville.
For a second straight year, defending Baltimore County champion and Class 4A state semifinalist Parkville completed a perfect regular season with a 21-0 mark.
The play that exemplified the difference between the teams Friday came with 5:09 to play. After the Titans scored four quick points, including a dunk from star Cam Sparrow, who finished with a team-high 22 points, they got the ball back trailing 58-51.
The orders from the Parkville bench was “D up!” and Barfield, a junior guard, was listening. He took the ball away from Sparrow at the defensive end and raced up the floor, finishing with a thunderous one-handed jam that stirred the sellout crowd.
“Honestly, it all happened so fast,” he said. “My team has been joking with me I don’t have no more bounce, so I had to show them. From that play on, I just knew that — coming off their dunk — it meant a lot for us energy-wise and intensity-wise. It gave us
more energy than we had and it’s helped us pull out the win.”
With Parkville leading 30-29 at the half,
Smith’s shooting helped give the Knights a double-digit lead. He hit a 3-pointer early in the third quarter and hit two more jumpers later in the frame. He hit three more 3s in the fourth, including one from the left baseline that gave the Knights a 58-47 lead with 6:11 to play.
“It felt good because I didn’t produce as much in the first half, but when I got it going it really helped my team get a win and it felt good,” said Smith, a second-team All-Metro guard last season. “My teammates kept me up, made sure I kept my head, made sure I never lost confidence.”
When the lead was cut to 58-51, Barfield made plays to close out the win.
After the big dunk, he scored on another layup in transition and hit two free throws. When the Titans tried to make one last push — cutting the lead to 74-68 on Jamal Price’s three-point play with 1:10 left — he answered with a strong drive to the basket with 57 seconds to go. The Knights closed the game by making six straight free throws.
Josiah Legree added 13 points for the Knights, while Arrington Greenfield and Jamal Price each added 14 for the Titans, who fell to 19-3.
“I don’t think we played our best today,” New Town coach Derek Wise said. “I thought we left a lot on the table, we didn’t convert at the rim, we fell asleep at the wheel on finding their shooters and they hit shots. They’re in their gym and hit shots and they capitalized.”
Both teams are looking forward to Tuesday’s Baltimore County title game.
“Tuesday at 5 o’clock, we’re right back at it and the good news is we have film to look over and a chance to improve tomorrow and Monday in practice,” Parkville coach Josh Czerski said.
Added Wise: “I’m relishing the opportunity to come back, but we got to be better than today. We didn’t play well and they earned it. I’m glad Round 2 is on Tuesday.”
NT — Sparrow 22, Greenfield 14, Hawkins 2, Brown 10, Kirkland 5, Price 14, Stanton 5, Fowlkes 2. Totals: 25 18-25 74
P — Barfield 27, Legree 13, Smith 24, Okigweh 3, Worsley 4, Moore 5, Wiggins 6. Totals: 26 22-26 82
Half: P, 30-29