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By Andy States
SMAC Content Manager
The final seconds had ticked off the clock nearly a half-hour before, and the regional-championship plaque had long since been presented. But the celebration on the floor of Thomas Stone’s gymnasium was nowhere near done.
The entire Cougars team, as well as a healthy number of the fans that cheered the team to its 73-58 win over the visiting Glen Burnie Gophers in Friday night’s 4A East championship game, lingered on the court to soak in the moment. And, while the Cougars’ regional title was the program’s second consecutive, Friday night’s celebration was a moment the team wanted to savor.
“It feels good, second time straight,” Stone junior Stephen Battle said after scoring a team-high 22 points and leading a dominant performance on the boards. “I don’t even know what to say right now. I feel real good right now.”
After reaching the 4A state final a year ago and coming within an eyelash of bringing home the state championship, the Cougars graduated a core group of seniors — including players such as Rodney Clark, Malcolm White and Brandon Carroll — that many thought carried the team. But this year’s Cougars were determined to create their own history and prove that they were more than capable of reaching the same heights. Stone will play the 4A South winner in the 4A semifinals at Comcast Center in College Park at 7 p.m. on Thursday night.
“It took a long time, but we came together at a crucial point in the season,” said Stone junior Kendal Smith, who scored 13 points in the win over the sixth-seeded Gophers. “They said when Rodney and them graduated we weren’t going to be nothing. Here we are going back to Comcast. We made our own identity.”
Stone (21-4), seeded fourth in the region, opened the game on a 9-2 run and never trailed though it did weather several runs throughout the game from a valiant Glen Burnie (17-8) effort. The Cougars led by as many as 12 points on a pair of occasions in the second quarter, but the Gophers finished the half on a 12-4 run and cut the deficit to 31-27 on David Deavers’ three-pointer just before the buzzer.
Stone stretched its lead back out to start the third quarter on a 7-2 spurt that featured a three-pointer by Leon Ouzts and a pair of Battle buckets. But Glen Burnie fought back to eventually close to within 43-40 late in the period, though the Gophers were never able to pull any closer.
Down the stretch Stone was able to keep the Gophers at a safe distance outscored the visitors 26-18 in the final period to seal the regional title. Justin Kuntz scored 22 points to lead the Gophers’ effort, while Deavers knocked down five three-pointers and finished with 21.
“We played hard,” Glen Burnie coach Mike Rudd said. “The shots we make this week earlier weren’t falling tonight. It’s not from effort. It’s a good team over there and they did a lot of good things to hurt us.
“It finally just hit midnight on Cinderella. I can’t be any more proud of every one of my kids. We’re the only team left from Anne Arundel County. No one thought we’d be here except us.”
For Stone, the journey just to get to the regional final was quite different than a year ago.
“At the beginning of the season if you remember all the preseason hype was North Point, Chopticon — Stone was nowhere around,” Stone coach Dale Lamberth said. “It’s not crying over spilled milk. You had teams in the top 20 in the Post and nowhere is Stone. I think the kids kind of took that personally.
“Yeah, Rodney and Malcolm and all those guys played very well, but it’s still Thomas Stone. They kind of took that personally.”
The Cougars opened the season with back-to-back losses to Charles County rivals North Point and Lackey but rebounded with a month-and-a-half of unbeaten basketball. Then, as the regular season wound towards its close, Stone was nearly shut out in the fourth quarter in a home contest with Leonardtown and squandered a late lead in a 62-58 defeat.
“That loss to Leonardtown was the best thing that ever happened to us,” Lamberth said of how it forced his team to refocus. “Being compared to Rodney and Malcolm and Brandon — this is their time and that’s really what they set out to do.”
This edition of the Cougars is working to establish their own mark, but knows the program’s history. Just two years ago Glen Burnie traveled to Stone for the regional final and knocked off the Cougars. In years before, Stone lost a regional final at Old Mill and another at Glen Burnie. This year, Stone had to go through both to make it back to Comcast, having played at Old Mill in the regional semifinals on Thursday.
“It’s always been Glen Burnie and Old Mill for the most part,” said Lamberth, noting that his players had taken to calling themselves the ‘Redeem Team.’ “So they pretty much know the history. We talk about history all the time. So coming into tonight they were determined.”
Vital to the Cougars’ progression has been the production from players that were not generally in the primary mix during the regular season. Lamberth noted that Spencer Schliep logged big minutes and held his own while Dytania Johnson sat on the bench in foul trouble on Friday, and little-used Leandre Eackles has taken advantage of his minutes in the postseason and scored 12 points — including seven in the fourth quarter — in the regional-championship win.
“Leandre was just coming,” Lamberth said. “I was impressed with him. He hardly played during the regular season, spot time, and to come out in two big games I was proud of him.”
“This feels like heaven out here, that’s all I can say,” Eackles said, basking in the postgame celebration. “This is the best feeling in the world. I got to play in playoff time and I thought I came up big for my team and we did good.”
Stone’s second trip to the state tournament in as many years may or may not have a different result, but last year’s experience for all of the returning players that played small roles on last year’s team will provide one distinct difference.
“We learned a lot,” Lamberth said. “I’m not too sure what last year’s team learned. I know what these guys learned. One, they can pretty much do anything they want if they put their minds to it. They were really determined [against Glen Burnie] … I think they’re going to take that same approach up there and whatever happens happens.
“We’re going to compete, that I can tell you.”
Thomas Stone 73, Glen Burnie 58
G 11 16 13 18
S 19 12 16 26
Glen Burnie: Kuntz 10 2-2 22, Deavers 8 0-0 21, Murphy 2 4-4 8, Mike 1 0-2 3, Rudd 1 0-0 2, Eldridge 0 2-2 2
Stone: Battle 6 10-16 22, Smith 5 3-6 13, Eackles 4 3-4 12, Johnson 5 1-3 11, Ouzts 4 2-3 11, Schliep 1 0-1 2, Washington 1 0-0 2
Three-pointers: Glen Burnie 6 (Deavers 5, Mike); Stone 2 (Eackles, Ouzts)
astates@digitalsports.com
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