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(News update) Third time not the charm for Stone, big three
Milford Mill jumps on Stone early, never lets up
Sunday, March 14, 2010
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by EMILY BARNES 03/13/10
Thomas Stone #42 Dyantya Johnson and #34 Kendal Smith stand together near the end of the game, as the team loses the Class 3A State boys basketball championship to Milford Mill, at the Comcast Center at the University of Maryland, in College Park, MD, March 13, 2010.
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Posted at 1:40 p.m. Sunday
Distraught expressions on the faces of Thomas Stone seniors Stephen Battle, Dytanya Johnson and Kendal Smith, as they were the last members of their team to depart to the postgame locker room, were too much of a reminder of how the last two years ended for the Cougars' big three.
For the third straight year, Stone was unable to bring home a championship from the state playoffs. And for the second time during that span, Stone settled for state runner-up status after falling in Saturday's 3A final, 60-46, to Milford Mill at the University of Maryland's Comcast Center.
The athletically deep Baltimore County program jumped on Stone (23-2 overall) early, taking a 5-2 lead just over two minutes into the state title contest and never looked back. Stone's only lead of the contest came when it scored the first bucket.
Tears filled the eyes of Battle, Johnson, Smith and head coach Dale Lamberth in the press conference. There were no blown double-digit leads that haunted them at states like the previous two years.
But there was no state title, either, for the playoff-experienced Cougars to punctuate the accomplished careers of the big three, which seemed primed to reign atop Maryland as Maxpreps.com's No.1-ranked 3A team during a decorated season that included stopping the 41-game win streak of Springbrook – looking to win its third straight 4A title Saturday night.
"It hurts," Battle said after registering 13 points to match a game-high. "But we had big accomplishments being at Comcast three years straight. We put in the effort, didn't come out with the 'W.' They outplayed us."
"I feel like everybody played as hard as we could. God just didn't have it in store for us to win tonight," added Johnson, who had eight points and eight rebounds. "There must be a bigger picture than the 'W.'"
"It hurts," Smith echoed, sporting 12 points and nine rebounds in the loss. "I love everybody on my team. Coach is like my other father. We accomplished a lot in our three years, and we came together as a family.
"We had a good run, we've been through it all. I really don't feel any regrets from the season."
The Millers, who won their first state title since 1994, were led by senior Anthony Goode's 13 points. Two others also scored in double digits for Milford Mill (25-3), whose starters outscored those of Stone, 48-39. Milford Mill's bench also got the best of Stone, 12-7.
And most telling, Stone's big three failed to assert its control over the paint as expected against smaller Milford Mill. Stone was outrebounded, 33-27, and did not get high-percentage looks deep in the paint.
Battle, Stone's most complete player, had no points going to the hoop with all his scoring coming on jumpers – including a trio of threes – and was improbably held without a rebound for the stat of the game. Battle averaged 12 rebounds per contest entering the showdown.
"They had four guards [against our] bigs, and I was checking a guard, so that kept me from boarding," Battle said. "That was to their advantage to keep me off the boards."
"They came up with a good game plan, and we just didn't come to play," Smith added.
Johnson, the team's emotional leader, played with a passion throughout that kept Stone hanging around, looking to pull the same comeback heroics that characterized the Cougars' opponents the past two years in the state final and semifinals.
Johnson's putback of his own miss while getting fouled during the second quarter got the Stone fans on their feet during a 9-2 run that cut Milford Mill's lead from 21-10 to 23-20. Battle's hot outside shooting also played a big role in the Stone offensive flurry.
In the third with Milford Mill teetering on blowing Stone away, up 38-22, with 3 1/2 minutes left, Johnson again had a three-point play that triggered a Cougars run. Stone got to within 41-31 with 1 minute 15 seconds left in the third.
But in each the second and third, Stone was unable to keep Milford Mill from countering before the quarter's end.
Milford Mill tallied the final four points of the second, and then after a Stone defensive breakdown in transition, the Millers got a layup right before third-quarter buzzer to stem the Cougars' momentum and take a 43-31 lead into the fourth.
Stone got no closer than 50-40 in the final quarter, which saw its best shooter in senior LeAndre Eackles sit the bench the entire time dealing with an illness he contracted the day before. Eackles was just 1 for 9 from the field, only connecting on the first shot of the game.
"We just didn't play four good quarters. Too many times, we just played good here and there," Johnson said. "When you're playing a team that's as skilled and matches up with you, you can't afford to take those quarters or minutes off."
"We just didn't bring it the way we usually do."
"I thought during one stretch, at least in the second quarter, we made some pretty good plays, and then they would come back and match that," Lamberth said. "It"s kind of tough when you play a pretty good team. You can't go bucket for bucket, play for play."
He added about the end of the third that ended in a Milford Mill layup for a 12-point lead, "That was key."
The turnover bug also adversely affected Stone with five more than Milford Mill.
We also beat ourselves," Battle said. "We let up with turnovers and mistakes. That's what helped them out in the long run too."
Milford Mill 60, Stone 46
Stone 10 10 11 15
Milford Mill 16 11 16 17
Stone: S. Battle 13, Smith 12, Johnson 8, Travers 4, Sharpe 4, D. Battle 3, Eackles 2
Milford Mill: Goode 13, Branch 11, Hamilton 10, Hanner 8, Johnson 6, McCray 6, Jones 2, Choice 2, Fulp 1, Richardson 1
Free throws: Stone 6-12 (Smith 2-7); Milford Mill 17-22 (Goode 5-7)
3-point goals: Stone 4 (S. Battle 3, D. Battle); Milford Mill 1 (Branch)
