Cougars reach third straight regional final
Stephen Battle drove towards the hoop as the first half of Thursday’s 3A South semifinal neared its end.
Battle missed his initial shot, but got back up once, and then twice to finally score on the tip-in with a couple of second left to give his Thomas Stone Cougars a little extra juice going into the break of what at that point was a highly-competitive game with the visiting Friendly Patriots.
Stone never relinquished the momentum.
The top-seeded Cougars turned what had been a nip-and-tuck affair into a blowout in the second half and destroyed the fourth-seeded Patriots 67-47 in front of an enthusiastic capacity crowd. Stone advanced to host Potomac, the region’s No. 10 seed, in the 3A South final at 7 p.m. on Saturday night.
“We just kept our intensity,” Battle said. “The crowd helped us out, and we worked hard on defense.”
Battle’s third-chance tip-tin at the conclusion of the opening half increased the Cougars’ lead to seven at the break. But that lead grew to 48-31 by the end of the third quarter. Battle scored eight of his game-high 17 points in the third, while Dytanya Johnson scored seven of his 11 as Stone (21-1) flexed its collective muscle.
Friendly (13-9), which had come into the game riding a six-game win streak but was bothered by Stone’s length inside for much of the night, pulled to within 50-37 after a pair of Sherrod Baltimore three-pointers sandwiched a Kendal Smith bucket. But the Patriots would pull no closer, as Stone’s lead swelled to as large as 23 in the final stanza.
“I thought the first half was good,” Stone coach Dale Lamberth said. “Two good teams kind of feeling each other out, trying to see who could do what.
“At halftime we just focused on doing what we practiced. Friendly’s a really fast-paced team and I thought we did a good job. They were up and down.”
As the teams jockeyed back and forth in the early going, it appeared as if Friendly’s considerable depth could prove to be a factor. The Patriots rotated players in and out, always keeping fresh legs on the floor.
“When I saw them roll guys in and out I thought, ‘You know what, we’re going to have to make adjustments,’” Lamberth said. “There were times I took Leandre [Eackles] and Stephen out, but the guys that came in held. We didn’t lose a whole lot. The guys who came in did a pretty good job maintaining.”
While Friendly may have had a slight edge in terms of depth, Stone’s size proved to be an obstacle the Patriots’ could not overcome. The Cougars dominated the glass and prevented Friendly from gaining too great a presence inside.
Smith scored nine fourth-quarter points to lead the Cougars down the home stretch. With the win, Stone advanced to its third consecutive regional championship game. The past two years the Cougars emerged as the 4A East champions. While in a different region this season, the experiences of the past helped in preparation for Thursday’s contest, as Friendly and Old Mill – an obstacle Stone always had to climb in the 4A East – play similar up-and-down styles.
“If you watch the game tape from Old Mill, you can see that we had to get back on defense,” Smith said. “We did a good job of that tonight.”
Baltimore led Friendly with 10 points. Stone, in addition to Battle and Smith, received double-digit efforts from Eackles and Johnson, with 13 and 11, respectively.
In addition to being the third straight year Stone will play in a regional final, it will also be the second consecutive that the Cougars will play on their home floor.
“I think it’s just a stepping stone,” said Smith. “It’s another stepping stone to get to where we want to be.”
Set up now is a regional final between two teams that have long been thought to be on a collision course. Potomac, which recently received a boost when senior Antonio Jenifer came back to the team following a suspension, topped Northern 73-68 in Thursday’s other 3A South semifinal.
“They’re a good team,” Lamberth said. “They have the [Jenifer] back. It should be a pretty good game. I know we’re going to come out and compete. We’re going to have two really good teams. This might even be the best game on Saturday in the state.”
Stone 67, Friendly 47
F 11 11 9 16
S 12 17 19 19
Friendly: Baltimore 10, Sims 9, Johnson 7, Collins 6, Morton 6, Savoy 3, Strong 3, Raynor 2, Blakely 1
Stone: Battle 17, Smith 15, Eackles 13, Johnson 11, Sharpe 4, Travers 4, Jackson 3
Free throws: Friendly 14-23; Stone 10-20
Three-pointers: Friendly 3 (Baltimore 3); Stone 1 (Eackles)
E-mail Andy States at astates@smacsportsnet.com
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