Final Period

Calvin Dotson, among three seniors on the Dunbar Poets, said he's been "hearing it all year that we can't get it done." "People have questioned everything about us, from we don't have any heart to we're too young," Dotson said. "We've heard we're the eighth-best team in the city. We've been the talk of the town that way." But with a come-from-behind, non-divisional, 70-64 upset victory over fourth-ranked Southern (9-4) in a Baltimore City League game yesterday, the seventh-ranked Poets (8-4)

CLEVELAND -- The Blast's drive for the title in the National Professional Soccer League's East Division hit a Central Division bump in the road last night. That bump was a nightmarish first half in a 13-8 loss to the Cleveland Crunch, which did all of its scoring before the break, leaving the Blast a longer trip to Edmonton for tomorrow afternoon's game with the Drillers. The Blast, still 2 1/2 games up in the East on the Philadelphia KiXX, fell behind 9-0 in the second quarter and 13-2 at halftime before closing to the final margin with two third-period goals and one early in the final period.

Annapolis scored only five points in the final period as Southern overcame second-half deficits of 14 and 10 points to upset fourth-ranked Annapolis, 69-64, last night.It was the Dawgs' (10-5) first win over the Panthers (9-4) since December of 1983 and it was the home team's second straight loss. The Panthers dropped an 86-84 overtime decision at South River Wednesday night."I don't think we have ever lost two in a row since I've been here," said Annapolis John Brady, who is in his 16th season.

Visiting Overlea entered last night's Baltimore County Division I boys basketball game against Dulaney with two perceived advantages. Advantage A: The Falcons had overcome the losing team's best player, 6-foot-7 Dan Ross, to win the first meeting at home. Advantage B: Last night, Dulaney was without Ross (sprained ankle). But the one intangible that often surfaces is heart, and the Lions showed plenty of it in last night's 53-48 victory to send the Falcons home with only their second loss of the season.

Top-seeded and sixth-ranked Arundel (23-0) dominated No. 5 Northern-Calvert (16-8) inside to roll to a 66-31 victory in the 4A East Region semifinals last night.Arundel, which has never made the state final four in girls basketball, will play host to Severna Park at 7 p.m. tomorrow in the region final.With their first county championship since 1959 already in the bag, the senior-less Wildcats hope to add their first region title.Arundel outrebounded the Patriots from Southern Maryland, 55-22 with the boards evenly distributed, 28 defensive and 27 offensive.

History does repeat itself and can be very frustrating to the coach on the losing end, and sometimes almost as frustrating to the victor.For those who missed it last year in Linthicum, No. 6 Broadneck (7-3) and North County (6-5) staged a rerun in Cape St. Claire last night with the Bruins winning again by 10, this time 61-51. Host Broadneck jumped on the same roller coaster it took on the road last January.Strangely enough, Broadneck raced to a 14-point halftime lead, failed to show up in the third period, but closed with a vengeance, just as it did a year ago."

Simply put, No. 19 Atholton was nearly perfect in the fourth quarter of last night's game with visiting Long Reach. Atholton made all 14 of its free throws, went 5-for-6 from the field and took control in the final period to hold off a Long Reach rally and pull out a 65-59 victory in a Howard County game. The Raiders had little trouble early, making seven of their first 14 shots and jumping to a 17-6 first-quarter lead. But Atholton (7-3, 7-1) went cold for most of the second and third quarters while Long Reach (7-3, 6-2)

It couldn't have been a better night for one of the greatest players in Annapolis history to show up to watch his alma mater.With Rob Wooster, the 1992 Anne Arundel County Player of the Year and one of the most accurate free-throw shooters in Panthers history looking on, second-seeded Annapolis (17-6) eliminated sixth-seeded Old Mill (13-9) in the Class 4A, Region IV semifinals, 75-63.Wooster, who just completed his first season at Division I St. Francis (Pa.), may have provided a lift for the the seventh-ranked Panthers, who have struggled at the foul line -- 39 of 78 in the final three games.

Terry Bogle waited 26 years for the moment, and for a novice cutting down the net he handled it like a veteran."It couldn't be better," said Bogle moments after his 10th-ranked Gophers upset No. 3 Annapolis, 89-80, in the Class 4A East Region Final at Annapolis last night to give Bogle his first trip to the final four at the University of Maryland.Glen Burnie won the three-point battle, 11-9, and the game. Shawn Mahaney fired in four of his team's 11 three-pointers and had a game-high 21 points.

After earning some long-awaited respect from county 4A League teams following a 52-51 loss to Old Mill on Wednesday, the Chesapeake boys basketball team took its home floor Friday night against a Broadneck team that obviously reads the headlines.The Cougars (4-8), who surprised the Patriots earlier in the week, found nothing up their sleeves Friday night as they were brought back down to earth by Broadneck, 71-58."They (Chesapeake) played Old Mill tough, so we knew they were tough," said veteran Broadneck coach Ken Kazmarek.