Cougars denied
COLLEGE PARK – It was never any kind of secret. After coming oh-so-close two straight years, the Thomas Stone Cougars planned on ending this season with a victory on the Comcast Center floor.
It just wasn’t in the cards.
Stone fell behind early in Saturday’s 3A championship game with Baltimore County’s Milford Mill Millers and could just never claw all the way back. Milford Mill took its first lead, 5-2, on Troy Branch’s three-pointer early in the first quarter and never gave it back, winning the program’s fourth state championship 60-46 over the Cougars.
Stone (23-2) reached the state semifinals three consecutive years, finishing as the 4A runners-up two years ago before losing in the 4A semifinals last year. On both occasions, the Cougars allowed double-digit second half leads to slip away. In this year’s 3A title game, Stone could never find a way to finish a similar rally from the other side of the equation.
“Obviously it stings,” Stone coach Dale Lamberth said. “I try to get them to recognize to accomplish three [regional championships] in a row, how difficult it is, we’ve rode it as far as we can ride it. The kids played hard.
“Milford Mill is a very good team. I’ve seen them twice. Their kids hustled. You can’t take anything away from them.”
Milford Mill (25-3) was able to crowd the inside and negate the advantage the Cougars typically enjoyed on the interior all season. Stone struggled with turnovers during the first half, and every time the Cougars made any sort of run Milford Mill answered right back to keep the momentum.
“We felt like we prepared for it by playing a very tough schedule all year long,” Milford Mill coach Albert Holley said. “We felt like we had seen pretty much as much talent as is out here. We felt like it prepared us for this moment and they just weren’t overwhelmed by it.”
Trailing 21-10 early in the second quarter, Stone reeled off a 10-2 run to pull within 23-20. But two buckets by Branch pushed the lead back out to 27-20 at the half.
The Millers extended the lead to 38-22 through the third quarter before Stone mounted another rally. The Cougars sliced the deficit back down to 41-31, but after the Cougars failed to convert on their final possession of the quarter Milford Mill was able to get an easy lay-up on the other end to again fend off the rally.
After Milford Mill again stretched the lead out a tad in the fourth, Stone slowly clawed back and cut the gap to 50-40 on Stephen Battle’s three-pointer with 1 minute 42 seconds left, but it was far too little and far too late.
The loss prevented Stone from winning the program’s – and the Southern Maryland Athletic Conference’s – first state championship since 1972. Since 2006, however, SMAC teams have made three state finals appearances, with Lackey’s 2006 appearance joining Stone’s pair.
Battle led the Cougars with 13 points. Kendal Smith scored 12, and Dytanya Johnson scored eight. Milford Mill was led by Anthony Goode’s 13, while Troy Branch and Jimmy Hamilton added 11 and 10, respectively.
“There were really no surprises out there,” Lamberth said of the matchup against Milford Mill. “The five guys who started were the five we knew would be out there. The guys that subbed were the same guys. They put in a lot of work today. We couldn’t match the intensity the whole game. We did it in spurts. When you’re playing a good team, particularly for a state championship, you have to do it four quarters the whole time.”
Milford Mill held a slight 33-27 rebounding edge – an area that Stone had been accustomed to dominating. Just two nights after shooting 4 of 16 from the free-throw line in the semifinals against Stephen Decatur, the Millers rebounded to convert on 17 of 22 in the final. Stone made just 6 of 12 attempts from the line on Saturday.
“At the end of the day I just think we didn’t play four quarters,” Johnson said. “Too many times we just played good here and there. When you’re playing a team that’s as good and matches up with you, you can’t afford to take those quarters off, those minutes off.”
For Stone’s core group of seniors, Saturday was to be the night they rode off into the sunset with the state championship trophy. It was a goal they had set prior to even putting on the Thomas Stone jersey and all had seemed to be on course.
“Everything happens for a reason,” Johnson said. “On Nov. 15 we started as a family. The outcome of the game doesn’t change that.
“I feel like we played as hard as we could. God just didn’t have it in store for us. There must be a bigger picture than the ‘W.’”
Added Smith: “I think we had a good run. We’ve been through it all. I take my hat off to Coach [Lamberth], and the whole coaching staff.”
While the state-championship goal ultimately eluded the Cougars, the team’s seniors leave a historic legacy. The group produced three consecutive regional championships, two state runner-up finishes, won this year’s SMAC champions and logged a 68-10 mark over the past three seasons.
“They didn’t want to hear this in the locker room – and I’ve been in the same locker room in Cole Field House two years in a row,” said Lamberth, reflecting on state losses during his own playing days. “I understand how the sting is, but one of the things I remember my coach telling us was, all of the accomplishments I can’t diminish — SMAC championship, being fourth in the area, the record, even coming here three times. I’m not going to allow them to just forget that, because it was too much hard work.
“There are many teams in this area that didn’t win a state championship. We have to put it in perspective. I think the expectation was high for Thomas Stone. We may have been the Cinderella-type team, but the things they accomplished this year and over the last four years have been remarkable and I want them to remember.”
Milford Mill 60, Thomas Stone 46
S 10 10 11 15
M 16 11 16 17
Stone: S. Battle 13, Smith 12, Johnson 8, Sharpe 4, Travers 4, D. Battle 3, Eackles 2
Milford Mill: Goode 13, Branch 11, Hamilton 10, Hanner 8, Johnson 6, McCray 6, Choice 2, Jones 2, Fulp 1, Richardson 1
Free throws: Stone 6-12; Milford Mill 17-22
Three-pointers: Stone 4 (S. Battle 3, D. Battle); Milford Mill 1 (Branch)
astates@smacsportsnet.com
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