Patterson grinds past Poly, wins crown
No. 3 Clippers top No. 2 Engineers, 42-40, behind Price’s 20 points, stout ‘D’
The Patterson boys basketball team didn’t mind the lack of style points in Saturday night’s 42-40 win over Poly that produced the program’s second Baltimore City Division I championship at Coppin State.
Whatever it took, however it was done, the No. 3 Clippers just wanted to find a way to score more points than the defending City camps.
They did it with defense, getting 20 points from sophomore guard Marvin Price, and overcoming poor foul shooting at the end to still find a way.
Byron Easter made a follow shot with 2:01 to play that was the Clippers’ only field goal of the fourth quarter and provided a 41-40 lead. Isaiah Clemons then made one free throw with 16 seconds left for the final margin.
At the other end, Price blocked a shot one possession and then in the final seconds, Gerard Mungo got a fingertip on Seth Jones’ 3-point try in the right corner. The shot never made it to the rim, falling just short and into the hands of Price, who protected it with all his might as the final buzzer sounded.
Patterson improved to 20-3 on the season, avenging a 54-51 overtime loss to Poly on Feb. 7, and goes into the upcoming playoffs on a high. Poly, which went 8-0 in league play during the regular season, falls to 16-7.
For anybody who appreciates defense, this was the game. Every possession and every shot was fiercely contested. Poly All-Metro forward De’Vondre Perry scored 11 points, but made a bigger impression on the defensive end with three blocked shots in the fourth quarter alone.
The No. 2 Engineers, who trailed 37-33 after three quarters, could only muster one field goal in the fourth, but managed to take a lead behind Perry’s defense and his work at the free-throw line midway through the quarter. He was fouled going to the basket and Price was called for a technical foul on the same play, giving Perry four free throws that were all makes for a 40-39 Poly lead with 5:15 left. The Engineers offense, a strength all season, wasn’t heard from again while Easter’s follow basket with 2:01 to go ended up giving the Clippers the lead for good.
“After the first game, I thought it had to be a cleaner game, but it turned out to be the same type of game,” Patterson coach Harry Martin said. “Grinding, every possession meant something. We were just fortunate to end up on the winning side. Our defense really came for us — defense wins championships — and we definitely played hard enough to deserve to win.”
For senior center Christion Adams, the lone senior starter from last year’s team who finished with five points, the Clippers’ scratch-and-claw effort depicted his four years on varsity.
“We had to work hard,” he said. “We knew it was going to be a low-scoring game, so it was going to come down to who wanted to scrap more and who was going to play harder and get on the floor. That was us tonight.”
Poly coach Sam Brand summed up the Engineers night in two words: “It’s frustrating.”
“We were trying to do things offensively that we just didn’t do,” Brand said. “We didn’t execute what we were trying to do. They did what they were trying to do just a little more and they got the win. It’s very disappointing. I feel that we were the better team. I still feel like we’re the better team. Our guys missed wide-open look after wide-open look. Guys have been in the gym all year working on that all season. Yeah, it’s frustrating.”
The first half picked up where the regular-season game left off — an intense, defense-first game. Neither team was able to get into a consistent offensive flow until the Clippers made a late run to take a 23-18 lead at the break.
After hitting just one free throw in the first quarter, Price got going in the second quarter. He went for nine in the quarter and four during the Clippers’ 6-0 closing run, finishing with a strong double-pump putback with close defense from Perry.
Perry, the hero in the regular-season win with a team-high 21 points, was limited to just two free throws in the first half. PA—Price 11-23 42. PO—Perry 11, Mims 9, Ali 7, Mosley 1, Walker 2, Stephens 8, Horton 2. Totals: 9 21-31 40. Half: Pa, 23-18 20, Mungo 10, Adams 5, Clemons 3, Jones 2, Easter 2. Totals 15