Hebron

Host Mount Hebron and St. Frances advanced to today's Holiday Classic championship game at 7:30 p.m. in different fashions.In last night's tournament opener, fifth-ranked St. Frances (7-1) had problems getting its transition game going against a South Carroll team seeking its first win. But the Panthers finally got untracked and pulled away to a 69-51 victory.Mount Hebron, 18th-ranked with a 5-2 record, used all 13 players and received 12 points off the bench from 6-2 senior forward Kevin Tonkins, who has fully recovered from a strained abdominal muscle that sidelined him earlier this season, to run past Archbishop Curley (1-4)

Services for John T. Hebron, a retired Baltimore insurance salesman who was an active member of Union Baptist Church and its custodian for more than 60 years, will be held at noon today at the church, 1219 Druid Hill Ave.Mr. Hebron, 98, died Friday at Liberty Medical Center after a long illness. He had lived in West Baltimore.He retired about five years ago as Union Baptist's custodian. He had been a member of the church's trustees, Day Care Center board, Senior Choir and Men's Glee Club.

Mount Hebron coach Warren Michael thought that if his team could take away Centennial's offensive strength then it had a shot at upsetting the No. 11 Eagles.For the most part, the Vikings succeeded in carrying out their game plan, and came close to an upset. The game was tied 6-6 after three quarters.But the visiting Vikings didn't count on Centennial's offensive flexibility, made a few defensive mistakes and lost, 10-7."Centennial has strong stick skills and is a great clearing team, so we wanted to make it a six-on-six game," Michael said.

Glenelg broke a sudden-death deadlock with Mount Hebron when sophomore attack Greg Edell received a perfect pass from junior attack Chris Forespring to score the game winner 58 seconds into overtime yesterday.The Gladiators trailed or were tied with visiting Mount Hebron for 32 minutes before emerging with the 7-6 victory.Glenelg (7-3, 4-0), which lost twice last season at home to Mount Hebron (7-3, 2-2), including in the first round of the state playoffs, gained command of the Howard County title race as the only unbeaten team.

Scott Robinson, one of the most respected basketball coaches in the county, will return after a year's absence to coach at Mount Hebron. But for the first time in his career, he'll be coaching girls."

No. 19 Oakland Mills finally found out what it was like to trail at halftime in last night's game against Mount Hebron.But, much like the Vikings' lead, that feeling didn't last for long.The host Scorpions outscored Mount Hebron 8-0 near the end of the third quarter to take a lead they would never relinquish, and went on to win, 65-58, in a Howard County league game."We just got more aggressive as the game went on," said Oakland Mills coach Dave Appleby. "We started to rebound better, and tightened up our defense."

Mount Hebron made only one error in a 15-inning loss to No. 6 Centennial on Monday. The Vikings did not field quite as well yesterday.Glenelg took advantage of five Mount Hebron errors to score six times on just two hits in the second inning, and the host Gladiators went on to post a 15-3 victory over the No. 13 Vikings in a Howard County game yesterday.Mount Hebron (2-4, 1-2) had lost all three of its games by one run and in extra innings. But the Vikings were never in this one, as they made nine errors -- all of which led to Glenelg (6-1, 3-0)

The scene was vintage Dave Greenberg.His top-ranked Mount Hebron girls basketball team had just routed a fine Howard team by 43 points, and Greenberg praised his players for their best performance of the season.Then the coach turned critical. He spoke of defensive lapses, even after Hebron had limited the Lions to a season-low 29 points, half of their season average. He complained about turnovers, even after the Vikings had scored 43 in the second half against the Lions, then the area's fourth-ranked team.

Led by Mark Jensen's three home runs and nine RBIs, visiting Mount Hebron stunned 13th-ranked and playoff-bound Atholton yesterday, 22-11.Jim Long joined Jensen's power binge by hitting two home runs and driving in four runs for the Vikings, whose season has been a disappointment because of erratic hitting. Long's homer in the third inning was a 375-foot blast over the center-field fence.Mount Hebron failed to make the Class 3A playoffs this season, partly because of a four-game losing streak during the middle of the season in which they scored just three runs.