Oakland Mills boys hold off River Hill, 50-49
Harford Tech boys rally to beat Catonsville, 64-60; Patterson tops Edmondson
Three days after Marc Marshall banked in a 3-pointer from beyond half court, giving the Wilde Lake boys basketball team an unfathomable 59-58 victory, Oakland Mills found itself in an eerily similar situation Monday against River Hill.
With less than three seconds left in a one-possession game, the Hawks were set to inbounds from their own end line. The Scorpions only needed one more defensive stop. However, if they failed, it would be their second straight defeat via buzzer beater.
Ryan Marshall caught the inbounds pass, took two dribbles and whipped the ball to Jackson Graves, one of the Hawks’ best 3-pointer shooters, on the right wing. But on this occasion, Oakland Mills was in perfect position to challenge the game-winning attempt. Graves’ heave came nowhere near the rim, allowing the Scorpions to escape with a 50-49 triumph.
“We needed it, man,” Scorpions coach Jon Browne said. “You lose another close one and you start feeling sorry for yourself. … We needed that tonight.”
As expected, senior guard Daeshawn Eaton did a large part of the scoring for an Oakland Mills team that dealt with turnover and rebounding problems throughout the game. Eaton scored 20 points in the first half alone and finished with 27, though his last point was by far the most important.
With the game tied and 3.5 seconds to play, Eaton drew a foul trying to drive that put him at the free-throw line for a one-and-one. And while he split the pair of free throws, his first conversion was enough for the Scorpions (4-1, 2-1 county) to get back into the win column.
As for River Hill, which shared the county championship with Oakland Mills last season with a 13-3 record, the loss drops coach Matt Graves’ group to 1-3 in league play. However, Graves does not take as much stock in the Hawks’ early-season record as he does in their development and expectant improvement throughout the year.
“It would have been nice to have five or six more seconds, but we had an opportunity to win,” Graves said. “We put ourselves a position to get there, which was huge, I thought, to where we started the game.”
Without Mount Saint Joseph transfers Nick and Ryan Marshall — who did not start because they missed practice Saturday because of injury — River Hill (3-3) scored just three points in the first quarter. Oakland Mills also started slow but could rely on Eaton to create his own offense. His personal 8-0 scoring run helped the Scorpions take a 13-3 lead after the opening eight minutes.
And Eaton did not stop there. Dooley Riggs scored the opening basket of the second quarter for the Scorpions, but Eaton, last year’s county scoring champion, poured in the final 12 points of the frame. On multiple occasions, he grabbed the defensive rebound and weaved his way down court for a layup. Seconds before halftime, he pulled up from the top of the key and banked in a 3-pointer.
The result was a 20-point first half, which matched River Hill’s total and gave Oakland Mills a seven-point halftime advantage.
“I just wanted to push the tempo,” Eaton said. “I didn’t want them to set up in their defense. I just wanted to catch them off guard and try to score in transition.”
Eaton’s teammates shouldered the scoring load to begin the second half, with Frederick Eiland II (12 points) making his second of four 3-pointers, Riggs finishing a layup and Jaelen Gaymon knocking down a long distance shot of his own. On the next possession, it was Eaton who converted from behind the arc to give Oakland Mills its biggest lead, 38-25.
From there River Hill began to reap the benefits of its full-court press and half court zone defense.
HARFORD TECH 64, CATONSVILLE 60: Senior co-captain Jalen Dangerfield scored all 20 of his points in the second half as the Cobras overcame a 19-point second-half deficit and rallied for a victory over the Comets (0-6).
Senior co-captain Laday Cooper scored 14 points and Antawan Corprew, TJLoweryand Enoch Wiredu had eight each for Harford Tech.
Catonsville was led by KJ Spruill (17 points), Dashawn Dixon (14) and Caleb Owens (12).
The Cobras forced multiple turnovers and outscored the Comets 15-2 to start the fourth quarter and tied the game at 51 after a fast-break basket by Dangerfield.
Dangerfield’s two free throws gave the Cobras a 53-51 lead with 3:31 left and they would never trail again.
NO. 3 PATTERSON 75, EDMONDSON 64: Tyrone Thomas scored 22 points and three others scored in double figures to lead the visiting Clippers to a Baltimore City win.
Jalen Willis (19 points), Marvin Price (15 points, 11 rebounds, five assists) and Gerard Mungo (10 points) also played big roles as Patterson improved to 4-0 on the season.
SOUTH RIVER 59, CHESAPEAKE-AA 40: After closing the first half on a 21-5 run, South River wasn’t about to let up, and Jeff Rubin made sure of that on the first defensive sequence of the third quarter.
Rubin, one of nine juniors on new coach Darren Hall’s squad, stole the ball and took it all the way in for a basket and foul, converting it for a three-point play. Rubin had 12 points, David Zeiss added 11 off the bench and Eric Sondberg had 23 points, 13 rebounds and three steals as the Seahawks won.