Patriots get back on track, hold off Gophers

Old Mill’s foray into the loss column this week proved to be a short one.

Three days after their 18-game win streak was ended by Annapolis, the No. 7 Patriots used a stingy fourth-quarter defensive effort and just enough free throws to hold off Glen Burnie for a 43-39 victory Friday night in Millersville.

“To bounce back after a loss is a good feeling,” Old Mill coach Mike Francis said. “What we didn’t want to do was turn one loss into two. You’ve got to get that feeling back. Guys get a little nervous after what happened, but we fought. We played well and finished the second half.”

Switching from a 2-3 zone to a man-toman defense to start the final eight minutes, Old Mill (19-1, 13-1 Anne Arundel County) limited the Gophers (15-5, 9-5) to a pair of field goals that spanned nearly the entire quarter to offset its own fourthquarter offensive woes (eight points, one field goal).

“We wanted to do something different,” Patriots forward Hollique Smith-Johnson said. “We just wanted to throw a different defense at them and see how they responded, and they didn’t respond well to it, so it worked out well.”

Despite its offensive woes, Glen Burnie, which fell, 61-50, to Old Mill on Jan. 14, cut the lead to 41-39 with 11.2 seconds remaining on a jump shot by Dayvon Cuffey, but a pair of free throws by Savione Barnes with 3.9 seconds left gave the Patriots a four-point advantage.

“We had crucial turnovers at the wrong time by seniors and got caught up in the moment, but they’re kids,” Gophers coach Mike Rudd said. “It’s really disappointing to let the game get away from us, but we battled to the end.”