Scorpions fend off second-half Eagles rally

A showdown between a pair of defending boys basketball state champions lived up to the hype Friday night, with No. 8 Oakland Mills holding off a second-half surge by visiting No. 12 Centennial to earn a 59-56 victory and stay undefeated.

Tre Hopkins led the way with a game-high 20 points for the Scorpions, while Naquan Williams-Day added 15, and Oakland Mills (4-0) made just enough late stops to hand Centennial (1-2) its second straight defeat.

“We did get some crucial steals down the stretch, and that was out of the little half-court trap that we did, which we hadn’t really run all night,” Oakland Mills coach Jon Browne said. “But overall, our zone was awful, our man[-to-man] was awful. … It was matador all night. So I count our blessings, because we just happened to make enough plays when we needed to. We escaped, quite frankly.”

Centennial coach Chad Hollwedel said he was pleased with his team’s fight after trailing by 10 points at the half and coming off a double-digit loss to Hammond on Wednesday. But he said the hole against the Scorpions was simply too deep.

“I didn’t have the same feel as last game at all. Last game, I felt like the energy was very different,” Hollwedel said. “This game, the energy was what we needed for a half, not the first half. We just can’t get down 10 to a team that is a good team. That’s it.”

Oakland Mills began building its lead right from the start, going ahead 12-4 midway through the opening quarter after a 3-pointer by Hopkins. Centennial closed the gap several times, getting some big baskets by Tom Brown (13 points), Elijah White (nine) and Michael Merkey (eight), but the Scorpions closed the half on a 7-2 spurt to take their first double-digit lead, 33-23.

Transition baskets, as they did all night, keyed their run.

“We like to run tempo because we are faster than a lot of guys. We’re probably the most athletic team in the county,” Hopkins said. “We just want to use that to our advantage and make sure we are getting up on teams fast.”

Centennial began battling back right away in the third quarter, getting some inspired play by EJ Fowler (11 points). After a layup by the senior guard with 3:33 left in the period, the Eagles were back within two, 37-35.

For the rest of the game, both squads traded blows. Oakland Mills had a 7-0 run, while Centennial had a 5-0 spurt of its own. The common theme, though, was that the Scorpions never lost their lead.

The closest the Eagles came was within two, 58-56, with 36 seconds left after a fast-break layup by Brown.

But after running off a significant chunk of the clock, Oakland Mills’ Daniel Kiely (14 points) made one of two shots from the foul line to make it a three-point game with 14 seconds left. Then, between a mix of fouls and a jump ball, Centennial never managed to get another shot off before time expired.

“We learned a tremendous amount,” Hollwedel said. “This is not a sprint, this is a marathon, and we had an incredibly tough beginning to the schedule that is not done yet.

“With that said, we are learning a lot, and I was proud of our second half tonight.”