Thomas Stone boys fall in 2A state semifinals
Fell behind early in 2A state semifinals setback
COLLEGE PARK — Through the opening stages of the Class 2A state semifinals versus Baltimore’s Patterson at the University of Maryland on Friday evening, the Thomas Stone High School boys basketball team clearly appeared uncomfortable with being on the big stage of the Xfinity Center.
Stone (22-5 overall) fell behind by 11 points late in the first quarter and trailed 15-4 at the end of the period. The Cougars responded to make things interesting in the second quarter thanks to 12 points from reserve Shawn Barclay, half of which came courtesy of two three-point field goals, and got to within 20-17 briefly before eventually facing a 30-24 deficit at the intermission.
Patterson (25-3) extended the lead further in the second half en route to a 74-54 win, moving it on to Saturday’s state championship game versus Wicomico, which edged Oakdale of Frederick County 57-51 in the other 2A state semifinal. Patterson won its third state title, 79-56 over Wicomico.
“We knew they had very quick guards and that’s something that you can’t duplicate in practice,” Stone head coach Dale Lamberth said. “We turned the ball over a few times early in the game then we were playing from behind. We made a few good runs. I thought Shawn kept us in it the second quarter. His last five games have been tremendous.”
Stone senior Gary Grant (22 points, 8 rebounds) started slowly but got warmed up in the second half and eventually became the school’s all-time leading scorer in a losing cause. The Cougars trimmed the deficit to three twice early in the third quarter on buckets inside from Grant and Barclay (19 points), but the Clippers responded with an 11-4 run to push the margin back to 4333 and later Zach Blackwell connected on a three-pointer for a 54-40 lead.
“I thought there were times when we needed to back off a little bit,” Patterson head coach Harry Martin said. “We like to push the tempo. We only have nine guys, but our conditioning in incredible. I know at some point during the game the other team is going to make a run. But our guys are so conditioned I know that eventually the other team is going to tire first.”
The Clippers scored the first six points of the fourth quarter for a 62-42 advantage. The Cougars responded with a 6-0 run of their own on buckets from J’Shawn Wallace and
Leonardo Wilson and two free throws from Grant to get to within 62-48 with five minutes remaining.
“I knew that I got the record tonight, but I wasn’t really concerned about the record,” Grant said. “I was just trying to help us get back in the game. We kept fighting, but we came up short.”
Patterson responded with buckets inside from Jalen Willis (14 points) and Marvin Price (21 points) which was followed by a basket inside from Grant to keep Stone within 66-50. The Cougars failed to score on their next four possessions and the Clippers countered with a 6-0 run on baskets inside from Willis, Blackwell and Joe Jones for an insurmountable 72-50 lead with 75 seconds to play.
“When you get here for the state semifinals, you’re going to be playing good teams,” Lamberth said. “We came up against a very good team tonight. But we knew that coming in here. I’m proud of what these guys did. These three seniors [in the media room, Barclay, Grant and Kevin Skidmore) were very loyal to the program. They were like gym rats for four years.”
Throughout the postseason, beginning with its 69-60 victory over Great Mills in the Southern Maryland Athletic Conference championship game, Stone had avoided facing large early deficits and found a way to prevail in the fourth quarter, including an identical 6960 victory over Oakland Mills in the 2A South Region championship. But in the 2A state semifinals, the Cougars were unable to overcome a difficult start against Patterson.
The Clippers scored the game’s first five points until Grant got the Cougars on the board with a layup with 4 1/2 minutes remaining in the quarter. Patterson responded with an 8-0 run over the next three minutes until Ervin Locke finally countered with the Cougars’ only other basket of the opening period.
“Their 2-3 zone gave us a lot of problems,” Skidmore said. “We could not get the ball inside. Their pressure was more than we anticipated.”
At the end of the tournament, Stone was the recipient of the Jack Willard Sportsmanship Award.