Free Throws

Throughout the regular season, the No. 12 Towson Catholic boys basketball team showed it could play with any team, though it sometimes struggled to close out games. The Owls had no such difficulty last night against visiting Mount St. Joseph in the opening round of the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference playoffs. With strong defense throughout and poise at the free-throw line in the closing minutes, the Owls pulled out a 56-51 win over the No. 13 Gaels to advance to the semifinal round.

Coaches aren't always easy to please, but Lake Clifton's Herman Harried was a happy man after his top-ranked Lakers held on for a 67-61 victory over No. 6 Digital Harbor last night. Harried enjoyed watching host Lake Clifton (18-0) keep its perfect season alive, but what he liked even better was the way the team did it. The Lakers showed the composure that Harried demands and wants - something he thinks all good teams need. "They made a lot of runs, and we withstood a lot of runs," Harried said.

Stony Brook 56, UMBC 55 - Chris Martin made a free throw with 18 seconds left to give host Stony Brook a victory over UMBC last night. Matt Spadafora made a three-pointer with 46 seconds left to tie the score at 55 for the Retrievers (9-12, 3-6 America East). Muhammad El-Amin led the Seawolves (12-10, 4-5) with 15 points. Martin added 11. Darryl Proctor led UMBC with a game-high 20 points. Spadafora scored 11 points, and Justin Fry added 10 points and 12 rebounds. Stony Brook led 27-25 at half and never trailed, though the score was tied eight times.

Jay Greene scored 17 points and Darryl Proctor added 14 points and 14 rebounds as host UMBC beat Hartford, 69-60, last night. Matt Spadafora had 15 points and six assists, while Chauncey Gilliam and Rich Flemming each scored 10 points for the Retrievers (8-8, 2-2 America East Conference). Greene hit a season-high five three-pointers for UMBC, which won despite going 12-for-20 from the free-throw line. MOUNT ST. MARY'S 78, SACRED HEART 67:: The backcourt combination of Jeremy Goode and Jean Cajou combined for 47 points to lead the Mount (9-9, 4-3 Northeast Conference)

The No. 2 Western girls basketball team got off to a slow start yesterday against No. 9 Catonsville, but the Doves made up for it in the second half. Using their superior quickness and depth, the Doves broke out of a tie game and finished it off with a 17-0 run for a 60-43 victory at the Basketball Academy at Morgan State's Hill Field House. "We were just playing and working hard in order to get that run," said Doves senior Akeema Richards, who had 24 points and 11 rebounds. "We had a bunch of hustle plays, especially Mikee Stevenson and Iesha Bell.

Simona Petronyte hit a three-pointer with 39 seconds left to bring Towson within one, but no closer, as the Tigers fell to visiting William and Mary, 61-60, yesterday. Towson (8-3, 0-1 Colonial Athletic Association) missed four free throws in the final 20 seconds. The Tribe (8-4, 1-0) ended Towson's six-game home winning streak and extended its winning streak to three. William and Mary has won five of the past seven at Towson. The opening half featured three ties in the first 16 minutes.

Junior Hairston scored 16 points and made two free throws with 46 seconds left to lift host Towson over James Madison, 58-57, last night. The Tigers (6-8, 1-1 Colonial Athletic Association) had trailed the Dukes (8-6, 0-2), who won four of their previous five games, most of the night. However, Towson turned up the defensive pressure and Hairston's free throws gave the Tigers their first lead since 15-13 with nine minutes remaining in the first half. With 25 seconds left, a steal by Hairston gave the Tigers the ball.

Kaleo Kina hit a pair of free throws with 7.3 seconds to play to give Navy an 81-80 victory over Longwood last night. The Lancers (6-8) had gone ahead 80-79 on a basket by Kevin Swecker with 11 seconds to play, wiping out a seven-point Navy (9-4) lead with 2:41 to play. After Swecker's basket, Kina drove the lane and was fouled by Billy Robinson. Saint Louis 81, UMBC 60:: Tommie Liddell III had 19 points and six assists, helping the Billikens beat the Retrivers for their sixth straight victory at home.

The Bel Air wrestling team lost nine seniors from last year's Upper Chesapeake Bay Athletic Conference tournament championship squad. But the Bobcats haven't missed a beat. They beat C. Milton Wright (40-22) and Northern (Calvert) (42-27) Wednesday, improving to 8-2 this season. The Bobcats also took fourth in the Ed Perry Tournament earlier this month at Annapolis Area Christian School. Coach Craig Reddish credits the depth that Bel Air has built up in recent years with letting him fill holes in the lineup while keeping the team competitive.

A bunch of years ago, I wrote a story about a group of children from the little upstate Pennsylvania town of Archbald. These kids dominated a national contest sponsored by a soft drink company in which boys and girls in different age groups took jump shots from different spots on the basketball court. So how did a bunch of kids from a town in the middle of nowhere, competing against talent from cities such as New York and Los Angeles, account for so many championships in a basketball shooting contest?