Gophers

Freshman forward Thabo Letsebe had to grow up fast last night in overtime for Goucher College, and he did so in remarkable fashion.Letsebe (Towson Catholic) hit two crucial baskets in overtime to lead the Gophers to a come-from-behind, 78-65 victory over 12th-ranked Johns Hopkins before a crowd of 550 at Goucher.Letsebe, 6 feet 6, tapped in a shot with 2: 48 left in overtime to run the Goucher lead to 69-64, and he came back 30 seconds later with a sweeping hook for a 71-64 advantage with 2: 18 remaining.

Members of the Glen Burnie High football may not all come from the same household, but they are a family.And after rolling past Meade, 16-0, Friday night for their fifth straight win in six starts, the Gophers have become one big happy family."

Tough as it may be to imagine a Division III game that feels like it's being played in March, that's the kind of game that Goucher and Wooster played last night.Behind 17 points from Bakari Ward and 13 from Mike Doyle, Goucher (7-2) defeated the Scots, 67-62, in a match where the intensity belied the sparse inter-semester crowd of 275 at the Sports and Recreation Center."It definitely seemed like a tournament atmosphere," said Gophers coach Leonard Trevino, whose team had 26 points off 22 Wooster turnovers.

In a season of diminishing returns, Voshon Lenard has come to symbolize Minnesota's reeling Golden Gophers.He and the Gophers limp into the Baltimore Arena this afternoon to play in the opening round of the NCAA East Regional.It is no coincidence that since the flashy senior guard took a nasty header off the elevated court at Williams Arena in Minneapolis a week ago, Minnesota's season has taken a distinct downward turn.The Gophers lost the last two games with Lenard gimpy. Worse yet, they lost four of their last six games and five of eight.

COACH OF THE YEARTerry Bogle, Glen Burnie -- In his 26th season as head coach of the Gophers, Bogle (267-305) earned his first trip to the state Final Four.To do so, the Gophers had to do something unprecedented for them: win two out of three games over perennial contender Annapolis to take the East Region.During the season, Bogle, a feisty coach who has been known to give a referee an earful now and then, juggled nine players in a two-platoon system that ran many opponents ragged.After topping Annapolis, 92-81, at home to start the season, Bogle's team lost, 97-62, in the rematch and ultimately lost the county title to the Panthers.

Desmond Dailey carried Glen Burnie in the first half and Damon Flamer heated up in the second half, as the Gophers won the Anne Arundel County North Division title with a 83-60 victory over Chesapeake last night.No. 18 Glen Burnie (17-5, 12-4) will play No. 13 Broadneck (15-6, 13-3), the South winner, at 7 p.m. tomorrow at Old Mill in the first county championship game.Dailey (eight rebounds, two steals) scored 20 of his game-high 27 points in the first half while Flamer (five steals) tossed in 11 of his 18 points in the third period after being yelled at by coach Terry Bogle.

INDIANAPOLIS -- His season and his college career had just imploded under Kentucky's relentless pressure, but Minnesota's Bobby Jackson was still living in the past."

Alphonso Generette entered Friday night's football game at Chesapeake as the county's leading rusher and certainly the fastest.And inrushing 23 times for 111 yards and the game-winning touchdown in a 21-14 double-overtime victory over the Cougars (1-2), the 6-foot-1, 170-pound Glen Burnie running back showed that he may be among the bestaround."Generette's just a very talented athlete," said Gophers coach Dave Rigot of the running back, who gained 160 yards on 19 carries and a touchdown in last week's 20-16 victory over Broadneck.

Senior Predrag Durkovic and sophomore Bakari Ward came up big in the second half last night to lead Goucher College to an 83-67 victory over visiting Salisbury State for the Capital Athletic Conference tournament championship and an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament.The win raised the Gophers' record to 22-5 overall and avenged their only CAC loss of the season, a 58-55 loss to Salisbury in mid-February. Salisbury, which dropped to 22-5 overall, is in the running for an at-large bid. The field will be announced tonight at 8 o'clock.

If ever a team gave its all and came up a tad short, Glen Burnie sure did over the last 10 days. Its season and a coaching career ended last night but not before the Gophers and Terry Bogle earned the admiration of many.Boo Diggs scored 13 of his team-high 27 points in the final period to go with nine second-half rebounds (game-high total of 11) and three blocks as Annapolis eliminated Glen Burnie, 78-71, in the first round of the Class 4A East Region playoffs.It was the Gophers' fourth loss in their last five games with everyone of them going to the wire and two settled in overtime, including Wednesday's 87-84 county championship loss to Broadneck.