Subscribe
Community
Unfinished business
Stone returns to states for 3rd straight year
Friday, March 12, 2010
 Click here to enlarge this photo File photo by EMILY BARNES
Stephen Battle and the Stone boys basketball team reach the state tournament for the third straight campaign.
|
E-Mail This Article
One of those clichéd fates was staring down Thomas Stone's big three in senior inside weapons Stephen Battle, Dytanya Johnson and Kendal Smith as they embarked on their third straight state playoffs Thursday as the face of a Cougars boys basketball program still looking for that elusive Maryland banner.
"I'm not too big on baseball, so I don't know that it's going to be the three strikes thing," Johnson said with a smile Wednesday during his team's final practice before the state gathering. "I definitely think it's going to be third time's a charm. I think Thomas Stone is definitely going to be able to pull it out."
"It should be a charm," Battle echoed.
Stone (22-1), the state's top-ranked Class 3A team by Maxpreps.com, took on Blake (19-3), ranked fourth in the same poll, in Thursday afternoon's state semifinals showdown at the University of Maryland's Comcast Center.
The winner meets either second-ranked Milford Mill (23-3) or seventh-ranked Stephen Decatur (22-4) in Saturday's state championship at 3 p.m.
While threes were wild within Stone's state-playoffs equation, they had nothing on the wild endings that has plagued the Cougars the last two years on Maryland's biggest stage.
Competing as a 4A team in 2008 and 09, Stone absorbed heart-wrenching losses in the state playoffs both years as the victim of colossal second-half letdowns.
In the 2008 4A final –– while trying to end the Southern Maryland Athletic Conference's state-title skid that still stretches back to 1972 –– Stone failed to protect a seemingly commanding 52-34 cushion late in the third quarter to Springbrook. The final 9 minutes 15 seconds saw Springbrook outscore Stone by an improbable 27-5 count to claim a 61-57 comeback win.
Then in last year's state semifinals, Stone owned a 38-27 halftime lead over Wise after leading by as many as 14 points in the first half. Going into the fourth, Stone was still in control, 47-40. But like its fourth-quarter woes against Springbrook the year before when it managed just five points, Stone struggled mightily again in the final stanza to Wise –– getting outscored, 19-10 –– to come away with another numbing defeat, this time in 59-57 fashion.
"It's always going to be in my mind, because I played in those games and we lost them," Smith said about how his team's 2008 and 09 experiences ended at states. "At the same time, I want to clear my mind and hope to have a great game."
"It's our final year, and we're coming back with experience and team chemistry. That's really going to help us out," Battle said amid another standout campaign, averaging over 17 points with 12 rebounds and three blocks per game. "We definitely have more confidence [than the last two years at states]."
"The first time you're there, you get the feel of the atmosphere and it's real big," Smith added about the Comcast Center confines. "I'm used to it now so I feel confident. We've worked hard, and I feel this team is more deserving of a win [of a state title]."
"We're a little more comfortable than most teams would be," Johnson said about being in the state playoffs for a third straight time. "But at the same time, you still have that nervousness about one-and-done and everybody in school talking about it. Of course, [the last two years at states] are in the back of your mind. But you can't let that be the reason why you want to win.
"It can't be all about revenge and payback. Although we want to right our wrongs of the past years, we want to make sure that we don't get sidetracked about playing too much into that. We want to keep playing Thomas Stone basketball, because it's been working so far."
Stone returns to states with what the team feels is its best mix of talent, which features seniors sharp-shooting guard LeAndre Eackles and efficient point guard Jarvis Travers. Both starters were just role players a year ago.
And Stone has reinvented itself as a second-half team this year, particularly in the playoffs.
Post-intermission surges helped Stone pull away in each of its wins of a talent-laden South region, overcoming rival Lackey and then shellacking Prince George's County powers Friendly and Potomac by 20 and 29 points, respectively.
"Our Achilles' heel –– not just at states –– but our second half for the last couple years has always been kind of not to lose type of thing," Stone head coach Dale Lamberth said while his team practiced Wednesday at College of Southern Maryland to prepare for Comcast Center's basketball court dimensions, bigger than the average high school gym. "If anybody watched us this year, things are close in the first half. And we believe the second half is our half of the game. The Lackey game, Friendly game, and Potomac were close the first half, and we pulled away. It's how we've been playing all year.
Lamberth added that it has been a combination of both psychological adjustments and improved Xs and Os on the floor in his team exorcising the second-half demons that haunted it at states the last two years. And he was confident his team would continue its second-half upper hand at Comcast Center.
"The last two games we played [in regionals] were a good four quarters," Battle said. "A lot of people expect us to [win the state title]. And we expect to get it done. We're more disciplined and focused, and we're going to notice things that we didn't notice our first year or second year [in the state playoffs]. I'm really excited. It's the third time back."
"As far as the third and fourth quarters, if you look at the stats, you can tell they are our stronger quarters," Smith added. "Basketball is a game of runs, and if you come out of halftime with a slower run, you know it's going to be the momentum the whole way [against you].
"We're a determined team that's focused a lot on defense [in the halftime locker room]," Johnson said. "And we've been coming out [in the second half] a lot stronger.
"A lot of people around the county are saying we're overrated and can't win the big game, being in 3A that we won't be able to beat P.G. teams… So it's important for the whole team that we get this [state title]."
Smith also noted, "The third time's the charm."
