Panthers

St. Frances used a simple formula to earn some revenge against visiting Mount St. Joseph on Friday night - a little Daquan Cook and a lot of defense. Cook scored a game-high 25 points, and No. 6 St. Frances smothered No. 3 Mount St. Joseph with tough defense throughout as the Panthers led from start to finish en route to a 56-48 victory. The Gaels scored a 78-76 overtime victory when the two teams met earlier this season. But St. Frances (13-5 overall, 8-3 in Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference, 8-2 in Baltimore Catholic League)

If playing the UCBAC's hottest boys basketball team had any effect on the Aberdeen Eagles, it did not show Wednesday night, as they put an end to the Elkton Golden Elks' winning ways, 64-53, in Aberdeen. The loss puts the elks at 6-1 overall and 2-1 Chesapeake, or upper division, of the UCBAC. By beating Elkton, Aberdeen moved to 5-2 overall, and 3-0 in the Chesapeake Division. Leading for the Eagles Wednesday was Mike Davenport, who netted 17 points. Deandre Henson had 15 points for Aberdeen, while teammate Dezmon Smoaks scored 10 points.

Playing in the consolation round of the 16th annual Green-n-Gold Holiday Tournament following matching first-round losses, the Perryville and Havre de Grace boys met up on Wednesday night, and it was the Cecil County representatives that walked away winners, beating the Warriors, 58-40. The Panthers, who were up 33-16 at halftime, were led by Gabe Sherrod's 29-point performance. Josh Ingram netted nine points in the victory, while fellow Panther Brian Matthews had eight points.

Isiah Thomas can recall facing Maryland once in his college basketball career, as a sophomore guard at Indiana in the NCAA tournament "the year we won it. " That would have been in 1981, when the Hoosiers crushed the Terps by 35 points in the second round. It was the largest margin of defeat for Maryland in the NCAA tournament under Lefty Driesell. Three decades later, Thomas will be taking on the Terps again, this time as the third-year coach of a struggling Florida International University program that the Hall of Fame player and former NBA coach and executive is trying to build.

Mount St. Joseph junior Lavon Long provided the last of a number of big plays in overtime against visiting St. Frances - and each and every one was needed for the No. 2 Gaels to come away with a thrilling 78-76 win over the No. 3 Panthers. Protecting the two-point lead, Long disrupted St. Frances guard Tevon Saddler's drive to the basket, swatting away the potential tying shot to preserve an impressive comeback win that featured both teams playing at a higher level usually found in the early season.

The Ravens announced Monday that they have added two offensive linemen to their practice squad. They are center Cecil Newton and offensive tackle Kenny Wiggins. Newton may be a familiar name to football fans. He is the older brother of Carolina Panthers rookie quarterback Cam Newton. Newton and Wiggins fill vacancies created when the team promoted linebacker Josh Bynes to the active roster on Wednesday and the New York Jets signed offensive tackle Austin Howard on Friday.

College Park - Perryville's bid for a state championship in girls volleyball was spiked by the powerful Smithsburg Leopards, who won their third straight Maryland Class 1A state title Saturday, breezing to an easy three-game sweep. The scores were 25-3, 25-13 and 25-14 in a match that was over in 50 minutes inside Ritchie Coliseum. For the Panthers, the power of Smithsburg was more than they could handle and it was evident early. Sarah Shives served the Leopards to an 11-1 lead, with Perryville's lone point coming on Emily Merklinger's block.

In the second week of the regular football season, Perryville scored the first 28 points en route to a 34-14 win over Havre de Grace. On Friday night, the Panthers scored the first 41, all in the first half, in a 48-7 win over the visiting Warriors in a Class 1A East region semifinal. The Panthers (11-0) will host the Snow Hill/Cambridge-South Dorchester winner next Friday at 7 p.m. for the region title. Perryville wasted no time in putting Friday's game out of reach of the struggling Warriors, who end the year on a five-game losing skid to finish at 4-7. The Panthers scored on the game's opening possession.

The first day of practice for the St. Frances boys basketball team on Wednesday had a much different feel than expected. Coach Mark Karcher, a 1997 alum who is regarded as one of the finest players to ever come out of Baltimore, resigned suddenly Saturday after three seasons, leaving the school to announce on Wednesday morning that assistant coach Nick Myles has taken over the duties. Karcher, who turns 33 later this month, leaves his alma mater appreciating the time he spent coaching there, but also disappointed.

The Perryville High School golf team won the District VII team golf championship for Class 1A-2A teams Tuesday at the district tournament held at Ruggles Golf Course on APG. The Panthers scored 338 to nip Patterson Mill for the team title. The Huskies shot 340 and Rising Sun was a close third with 345. Danny Geiger shot the Panthers' best score, a 79, while Corey Hahn had the Panthers second best round with an 82. Panthers freshman Tyler Pollitt came up big with an 83 and Nikki Leonard shot 94 to round out the Panthers team scoring.