Walkersville ended a long varsity championship drought and Windsor Knolls won it's second jayvee title in the last four years in the 2001 Conference tournament finals.
The Lions scored the game's final six points to pull away from a 32-32 tie with 1:30 remaining and register a 38-32 win over Middletown. It was the first varsity tournament title in the 13-year tenure of head coach Dave Masser.
Steve Anderson poured in 27 points as Windsor Knolls upset previously-unbeaten Linganore 60-55. Head coach Barry Cuozzo's charges also defeated the Lancers for the 1998 championship.
Both games were played to standing-room only crowds at Walkersville Middle School.
Walkersville used an 11-0 run in the second quarter to take a 22-13 lead and went 15 for 17 from the foul line to make it stand up. Middletown, which scrapped back to a 30-30 tie with 2:18 left in the game, was just seven of 17 from the charity stripe.
With the game tied at 32, Alex Edgely knocked down two short jumpers from the low blocks as Walkersville seized control. Chris Hannigan had 15 points to lead the Lions and Tim Abercrombie contributed 10 points. Joe Keimig's 11 points paced the Knights.
Anderson outdueled Linganore's Jon Sweadner who tossed in 20 points. The Hawks also got 14 points from Matt Urie and a solid effort from point guard Greg Price. Jay Greene and Paul Rhoads chipped in with nine points each for the Lancers.
Linganore and Windsor Knolls qualified for the jayvee tournament championship game while Walkersville and Middletown advanced to the varsity finals with semifinal game wins.
The Lancers shrugged off a well-prepared Ballenger Creek squad in the fourth quarter for a 41-31 triumph that preserved a perfect 22-0 record against League foes. The winners led by just one point (12-11) at the half and three (23-20) heading into the quarter period. Jon Sweadner again led the winners with 13 points while Michael Herrod added eight. Michael Clementson has 12 points to lead Ballenger.
Windsor Knolls let a 17-point lead get away in the fourth quarter, but got past upset-minded West Frederick 57-54 in overtime. Mike Hall's five points in overtime, along with the play of Matt Deadrick and Jorden Snowden, secured the win. The Hawks were paced by Steve Anderson with 16 points and Matt Urie with 13. Qmonte Matheny led all scorers with 22 for the Cadets and Steve Curtis finished with 11 points.
Brandon Geppert and Dave Berry poured in 15 and 13 points, respectively, to lead host Walkersville to a 52-37 varsity win over St. John's. Jair Brady capped an outstanding season for the Vikes with a game-high 16 points.
Middletown netted seven of 12 free throws down the stretch to hold off Windsor Knolls 41-33 in the other varsity semi. Wesley Bidle had 12 points and Joe Keimig contributed 10 to offset an 18-point performance (including four three-pointers) by Windsor Knolls' Jason Butts.
Three of the top four seeds on the varsity level and two on the jayvee side were upset victims in the tournament's quarterfinal round.
Top varsity seed West Frederick (20-0) was eliminated when Jason Butts of Windsor Knolls nailed a put-back as time expired. The Hawks rallied from a 26-20 halftime deficit and led 40-39 before Arun Ali's free throw tied the game with 20 seconds left. Shaynon Thompson had a game-high 13 points for Windsor Knolls while Butts added 10. Quenton Beard led the Cadets with 11 markers while Luther Weedon contributed nine points.
St. John's upset #3 Poolesville 38-31, jumping out to a 23-15 halftime lead and maintaining it throughout the second half. Justin Moser and Steven Keser keyed a strong defensive effort that shut down Poolesville's inside game and limiting Adam Powell to two points. Jair Brady had 14 points to lead the Vikes and Ben Hose had 11. Poolesville was led by Stephen Smith with nine points and Cory Christman added eight.
Middletown got clutch performances from non-starters and 15 points from Zach Miss in toppling #4 Monocacy 44-32. Anthony Blackwood had 15 points in a losing cause.
Walkersville defeated Ballenger Creek 54-34 in the other quarterfinal game. No additional details were made available.
Linganore's jayvees, top-seeded at 20-0, had little trouble in defeating St. John's 45-27. The Lancers got 15 points from Jon Sweader and eight from Cory Alexander. Todd Steber's seven points paced the Vikings.
Second-seeded Windsor Knolls also advanced with a 53-34 triumph over Brunswick. The Hawks struggled early, but outscored the Railroaders 14-5 in the third quarter to take command of the game. Brunswick was led by Chris Papanicolas with 11 points and Eric Zsilsky with 10. Steve Anderson had 14 points for the winners and Matt Deadrick added 13.
West Frederick squandered a 26-17 halftime lead, but used a 19-6 surge in the fourth quarter to upset #3 Monocacy 56-44. Malcom Kattes had 12 points, Malcom Stringer 11 and Danny Toft 10 for the winners. Brad Betson netted a game-high 15 points for Monocacy while Matty Foley chipped in with 12 points.
Ballenger Creek saw leads of six points slip away on two occassions before taking command in the fourth quarter to oust #4 Poolesville. Zach Stowers led Poolesville with nine points on solid outside shooting. Sean Courtney paced Ballenger Creek with eight points.
Four varsity squads qualified for the tournament quarterfinal round with play-in victories.
Middletown pulled away after a sluggish start to defeat first-year MSD 38-27. Joe Keimig had 16 points for the #5-seeded Knights while Davon Cook completed an outstanding year for the Orioles with 11 points.
A last-second three-point attempt by Catoctin's Derrick Thompson rimmed out at the buzzer as St. John's escaped with a 35-32 win. The Vikings were led by the defensive efforts of Thomas Scholtes, Andrew McNeill, Justin Harrison, Kevin Van Hook, Philip Carter and Steven Keser. Catoctin got seven points from Dan Duranko, nine from Derrick Thompson and Derrick Beard scored eight.
Ballenger Creek defeated Brunswick 41-32. Ballenger got scoring from all players, led by Cory Rhodes with 10 points and Kenny Houck with seven. Brunswick was led by Billy Bernard's 12 markers and Alex Papanicolas added six.
Windsor Knolls avenged two regular season losses to Linganore with a 30-27 triumph. Justin Short broke a tie with a free throw with 20 seconds left. After Linganore missed a final shot attempt, Jason Butts was fouled and canned two foul shots with less than a second remaining to ice the win. Butts had a game-high 11 points for the Hawks while Dan Orrison contributed seven. Isiah Brightful led the Lancers, who were up 17-9 at the half, with 10 points.
West Frederick, Brunswick and St. John's advanced to the quarterfinal round of the tournament with wins in their play-in games.
The Cadets raced to a 17-3 lead and swept past Catoctin 57-28. Jeremy Duvall had 22 points for the winners while Malcom Stringer added 12 points and Qmonte Matheny 10. Derek Woelfel had nine points to lead Catoctin.
Eric Zwilsky had 12 points and was the game's only double digit scorer as Brunswick defeated Middletown 33-25. Chris Papanicolas and Aaron Main contributed six points each for the Railroaders while Ty Main and Patrick Carney had a half dozen each for Middletown.
St. John's outscored host Walkersville 21-8 in the second half to avenge a pair of one-point regular season losses with a 32-24 triumph. The Vikings were led by Jonathan Mahlandt's eight-point effort while Andrew Murphy, Chris Pully, Todd Steber and Paul Crone all had four points each. Joseph Reilly and Jonathon Nusbaum each had five points for Walkersville.
West Frederick's varsity and Linganore's jayvees closed out unbeaten regular seasons in a doubleheader at LHS.
The Cadets defeated Linganore 43-23 behind a 17-point effort from Luther Weedon. Corey Dorsey added eight points for West Frederick, 44-1 against League opposition over the last two seasons. Isiah Brightful had ten points and Josh Young eight for the Lancers.
Linganore extended a 27-20 halftime lead into a 57-37 jayvee win that provided the first unbeaten season in the program's 23-year League affliation. Paul Rhoades knocked down 17 points to lead the win while Chris Rich added nine points. Qmonte Matheny led the Cadets with 12 points.
Anthony Blackwood hit an 8-foot baseline jumper with a minute left that proved to be the game-winner as Monocacy's varsity nipped Windsor Knolls 35-34. Josh Alderson and John Truxillo led Monocacy with eight points each while Shaynon Thompson from WK led all scorers with 16 points.
Gordon Selckmann hit two free throws to tie the game with 30 seconds left, then hit the game-winning free throw 20 seconds later as Monocacy also won the jayvee game by a single point, 37-36. Selckmann and Patrick Uthe each scored seven points for the winners while Brad Betson led Monocacy with nine. Steve Anderson paced the Hawks with 10 points. Gregory Price chipped in with eight. WK led 19-12 at the half.
Walkersville benefited from a 13-of-18 performance from the foul line in taking a hard-fought varsity game from Middletown, 39-33. There were 38 fouls called in the game. Walkersville outscored Middletown 15-7 in the third quarter with Dave Berry scoring all of his game-high 11 points during that stretch. Joe Kiemig had 11 points for Middletown.
Devin Trout tossed in 13 points and Derek Hubbard added eight as Walkersville's jayvees beat the Knights 36-28. Patrick Carney's game-high 17 points led the Knights.
St. John's bolted to a 16-3 first-quarter lead over Ballenger Creek's varsity and never looked back winning 54-42. The vikings had three players in double figures - Jair Brady with 22, Ben Hose 14 and Steven Keser with 10 points. Ballenger was led by the scoring of Scott Fitzgerald with 13 points.
Ballenger Creek's jayvees raced to a 15-0 first-quarter lead and never trailed in defeating St. John's 40-25. Eleven players scored for Ballenger, led by Michael Clementson with nine points. Danny Lagdon led St. John's with seven markers.
Billy Bernard scored 16 points and Alex Papanicolas added 12 as Brunswick's varsity won a see-saw 45-42 battle against Catoctin. For Catoctin, Derrick Thompson and Luke Bumgardner netted 10 points apiece.
Brunswick also held on for a 35-34 win in the opener. Brunswick led 28-18 after three periods, but Catoctin scored the first 11 points of the fourth quarter to take a 29-28 lead. Chris Papanicolas hit two free throws with 10 seconds left to provide the game-winners. Eric Zwilsky had 12 points to lead Brunswick while Michael Topper had a game-high 12 points for the Cougars.