Oak Hill

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- While the battle between two budding superstars was a virtual wash, their supporting casts were left to settle the score. Such was the scene yesterday, as Henry Sims and his No. 1-ranked Mount St. Joseph boys basketball team lost, 73-70, to Brandon Jennings and Oak Hill Academy during a hotly contested matchup at the annual Basketball Hall of Fame Spalding Hoophall Classic. The Georgetown-bound Sims put on a display in the paint, shooting 10-for-16 from the field.

Mount St. Joseph is the top-ranked basketball team in the metro area. Today, the Gaels will find out how they stack up against one of the best teams in the nation. The Gaels (16-1) will face Oak Hill Academy of Mouth of Wilson, Va., at 3:45 p.m. in the Spalding Hoophall Classic High School Invitational in Springfield, Mass. The game is part of a four-day mixer run in conjunction with the Basketball Hall of Fame and featuring highly touted teams from around the country. The Gaels' only game in the mixer will be shown online at ESPN 360. "This is a lifetime chance," Gaels center Henry Sims said of playing on an ESPN outlet.

Five weeks after fending off concerns about harmful bacterial skin infections at four high schools, Anne Arundel County school officials were combating another public health scare this week: pneumonia. The Anne Arundel County Department of Health has confirmed at least six cases of mycoplasma pneumonia at a Severna Park elementary school. Symptoms The bacterial respiratory illness, characterized by headache, coughing, sore throat and fever, is spread through hand-to-hand and hand-to-nose contact with an infected person.

Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin told Anne Arundel County government, civic and business leaders yesterday that he has not abandoned hope of moving the District of Columbia's juvenile detention center to the city, even as D.C. officials push for reconstruction near the existing site abutting Fort Meade. In the closed-door meeting at the Maryland City fire station, according to several people who attended, Cardin said he is soliciting the help of the O'Malley administration and congressional colleagues to revive his stalled legislation to eject the Oak Hill Youth Center from the 888-acre site in Laurel and split the land between Anne Arundel County and the National Security Agency.

Officials in Maryland and the District of Columbia have agreed to disagree over the future of an often-troubled juvenile facility in Anne Arundel County that houses district delinquents. In a "satisfactory division of agreement" statement issued last night, the disputing parties said the district government will move forward with construction of a new Oak Hill facility near the existing one on a 40-acre section of a federally owned site adjacent to Fort Meade. Though Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin has long fought to relocate the detention center into the district, the Maryland Democrat characterized yesterday's "agreement" as a partial victory because Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty is now willing to cooperate with federal and state officials about the disposition of the remaining 848 acres of the property.

Officials in Maryland and the District of Columbia have reached an agreement over the troubled Oak Hill Youth Center, congressional aides said yesterday. But details were not final, and Anne Arundel County Executive John R. Leopold said he had not yet agreed to a settlement. Aides to Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton said details of the agreement they had reached with Washington Mayor Adrian M. Fenty would be announced next week. Neither Cardin, Norton nor Fenty could be reached for comment last night.

Anne Arundel County's chief executive said he was surprised to learn yesterday that work is imminent on a new 60-bed District of Columbia facility for delinquents near the site of its troubled Oak Hill juvenile prison in Laurel - despite a U.S. Senate proposal that would move it to Washington. County Executive John R. Leopold was to meet with Washington Mayor Adrian M. Fenty to discuss the future use of the land when he learned of the new 60-bed building to be constructed. It will replace the decrepit 200-bed building on the other side of the nearly 900-acre parcel.

Within a day of the introduction of congressional legislation to close the crumbling Oak Hill Youth Center near Fort Meade, key Anne Arundel County officials are calling for using half of the valuable property as a West County regional park. County Executive John R. Leopold said he also supports some form of development component on the nearly 900 acres controlled by the District of Columbia. "A regional park would be a positive and attractive use of the property," said Leopold, who took steps last month to capture two other large parcels of open space for parkland, He said that would be "the lion's share of that property, leaving open the option over a small portion for other uses."

With a higher-ranking post in Congress and the support of Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin reintroduced legislation yesterday to close the Oak Hill Youth Center in Laurel. Under the legislation, Anne Arundel County and the National Security Agency would split the 900-acre parcel adjacent to Fort Meade and controlled by the District of Columbia. Land on the northern side of the Little Patuxent River would be used as a security buffer abutting the Army post, and the southern side would be designated mostly for parkland.

The NCAA lifted its ban on freshman ineligibility before the 1972-73 season. Over the past decade, the very best never bothered to stop on campus, but the NBA's new draft policy has led to the phenomenon of Kevin Durant. Heading into last night's game at Oklahoma State, the Texas freshman was averaging 23.7 points and 11.0 rebounds. He is the only player in the nation to rank among the top 10 in both categories, and Durant hasn't done it against a cupcake schedule. With three players taken among the top 42 in the 2006 draft, this should be a rebuilding year for the Longhorns, but coach Rick Barnes put Michigan State, Gonzaga, LSU and Tennessee on the non-conference schedule and Durant didn't let up once No. 21 Texas got into the Big 12. With 37 points against Colorado and 34 against Missouri, the 6-foot-9, 225-pound Durant doesn't look like someone who turned 18 in September.