Red Storm

FIELD HOCKEY No. 2 Bryn Mawr @ No. 1 South River WHEN -- Friday, 6:30 p.m. OUTLOOK -- The top ranking likely will be on the line in the third meeting in four years between these perennial powers. The Mawrtians won one-goal games in each previous meeting, and both teams were unbeaten going into yesterday. Look for strong defenses on both sides, anchored by Bryn Mawr goalie Abby Bisbee and South River goalie Virginia Jorden. Sarah Cole leads the Mawrtians with six goals and two assists, while Brooke Griffin has seven goals and five assists for the Seahawks.

Dunbar junior running back Tavon Austin continued his march toward the state career touchdowns record during the Poets' rout of Forestville in the Class 1A South semifinals Saturday. Austin, who rushed for 249 yards and four touchdowns in No. 2 Dunbar's 66-29 win over the Prince George's County school, has 33 touchdowns this season and 86 for his career, one shy of the state record held by Old Mill's Ryan Callahan (2003-05). "His performance ... was remarkable," Dunbar coach Lawrence Smith said of Austin's play against Forestville.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- St. John's and Ohio State enter tonight's South Regional final with the same goal: to reach next week's Final Four in St. Petersburg, Fla.To get there, the third-seeded Red Storm and the fourth-seeded Buckeyes will have a similar game plan at Thompson-Boling Arena: to get the other to come out of its zone defense.St. John's (28-8) has used a variety of zones in its last two tournament victories, most recently in its 76-62 demolition of Maryland Thursday night. It helped account for the Terrapins' going 10 minutes without scoring.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- They are too big a school with too rich a tradition to be called the only Cinderella team left in the NCAA tournament.Just call Ohio State a turnaround team, the most remarkable in recent college basketball history.The Buckeyes continued their astounding climb from the bottom of the Big Ten last season to the heights of the school's first Final Four appearance in 31 years last night with a thrilling 77-74 victory over St. John's in the NCAA South Regional final at Thompson-Boling Arena.

NEW YORK -- The first time Erick Barkley saw Bootsy Thornton play was in a game at a summer camp while they were both in high school. The point guard from New York was quite impressed with the shooting guard from Baltimore."

Erick Barkley had all the flash, style and prime time moves of a typical New York City high school point guard when he came out of renowned Christ the King in Queens nearly two years ago.But the freshman St. John's point guard didn't have the kind of polish and maturity to prompt a respected coach like Mike Jarvis to hand a top-notch Big East team over to his leadership.That smooth finish was applied by coach Max Good last season at Maine Central Institute prep school.Now the 6-foot-1, 185-pound Barkley will be making most of the decisions for the third-seeded Red Storm (27-8)

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- It wasn't a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.It just seems that way to Maryland fans.The Terps last won a Sweet 16 game in the NCAA basketball tournament in 1975. Assistant coach Billy Hahn, a senior that season, remembers that Maryland was sent to Las Cruces, N.M., for the Midwest Regional final. The Terps got past Notre Dame, then came up one game short of the Final Four against Louisville.Maryland's current players aren't up to speed on the specifics, but they know that they've got a chance to end a long run of NCAA frustration, and place a fine season on the verge of a remarkable one tonight at Thompson-Boling Arena.

COLLEGE PARK -- Maryland defender Nick Downing cupped his hands behind his head and collapsed to his knees as the final seconds ticked off the clock. Terrapins forward Taylor Twellman walked off the field hastily while shaking his head, contemplating the missed opportunities, as well as his future.Gambling to score in the waning minutes of regulation, Maryland's men's soccer team had its national championship run busted with one mistake in NCAA tournament first round yesterday.Counterattacking off a Terrapins turnover, St. John's midfielder Carlo Acquista broke free to score the game's only goal uncontested with 1: 37 remaining, lifting the unseeded Red Storm to a 1-0 upset of No. 7 Maryland before 910 at Ludwig Field.

NEW YORK -- During the first timeout he had called, a little more than 2 1/2 minutes into the second half yesterday at Madison Square Garden, Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun gave his top-ranked Huskies an earful. During the second, 24 seconds later, Calhoun said nothing.Guards Ricky Moore and Khalid El-Amin did most of the talking."Some of the guys were getting a little panicky," Moore said of the 12-point deficit Connecticut faced against ninth-ranked St. John's. "We knew we had a lot of time left and we've been in this situation before."

When the Maryland men's soccer team opens in the NCAA tournament tomorrow against unseeded St. John's, the No. 7 Terrapins will be facing a shell of the Red Storm team that had risen to national prominence three seasons ago.Wait, Maryland has heard that line before. The Terps won't be biting this time.Only a week ago, the Terps began the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament with Virginia, a soccer powerhouse that had been suffering through its worst season in recent memory. As a result, Maryland played soft and collapsed hard, losing, 2-0, in the first round to the Cavaliers.

Poly quarterback Antoine Goodson didn't complete a pass all evening in the Engineers' 46-20 win over Edmondson at Mervo last night. He didn't have to. The senior, returning for his first game after a dislocated shoulder, directed a run-only offense and scored four touchdowns while rushing for 155 yards on 16 carries in the victory. No. 10 Poly (6-0, 5-0) gained 542 rushing yards behind the offensive line of Keon Brunson, John Ward, Gregory Nixon, Reno Coles and Kennard Brown. Because the holes were there, Goodson never had to throw a pass.

Loyola's No. 1 football team had been a little concerned about Edmondson's defense after the No. 10 Red Storm's performance last week against Mount St. Joseph, but the Dons didn't have nearly as much trouble as their Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference counterpart. Connor Bruns threw for two touchdowns and ran for one in the first 10 minutes Saturday to open a 21-point Loyola lead en route to a 47-14 win in on-and-off drizzly rain. A week ago, the Red Storm didn't let Mount St. Joseph's offense within 19 yards of its end zone but lost a 9-6 heartbreaker because the Gaels recovered a fumble in the end zone.

There was little that went right for host Mount St. Joseph on offense Saturday against Edmondson. The Gaels committed four turnovers, went 0-for-4 on fourth-down conversions and never got within 19 yards of the end zone. On this day, about the only thing that did go right for them was the final score. Eighth-ranked Mount St. Joseph first took advantage of a series of fluke plays to take the lead, then used intense defensive pressure to keep it in a 9-6 win over the No. 10 Red Storm. "I thought Edmondson's defense was really well-prepared.

Walbrook standout forward Roscoe Smith turned the third quarter of yesterday's game at Edmondson into his own showcase and his teammates provided quality support in the fourth to lead the No. 4 Warriors to a 63-48 win over the No. 9 Red Storm. Smith scored 13 of his game-high 23 points in the third quarter - hitting three three-pointers and putting down two dunks - to help turn a 22-22 game at the half into a 42-35 advantage going into the final eight minutes. After the Red Storm responded with a 9-2 run to open the last quarter - a four-point play followed by a three-pointer from Rodney Patcher tying the score at 44 - Donte Stuckey and Denzell Walker picked up the slack to help the Warriors pull away.

Owings Mills wrestling coach Guy Pritzker earned his 400th career dual-meet victory last night when his team defeated Eastern Tech, 64-10, at Eastern Tech. The milestone victory came against Pritzker's longtime friend and former coach, Ray Groszkowski, who mentored Pritzker when both were at Towson 35 years ago. "The whole team wrestled incredibly," Priztker said after the win. "I never knew my team was this good." The No. 11 Eagles, who won eight of the 14 matches by pin, built a 25-0 lead before Eastern Tech got on the board.

John Graham had a game-high 25 points to power No. 3 Calvert Hall past host and No. 10 Towson Catholic, 59-54, yesterday in Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference basketball. The Cardinals (12-2) led most of the game, but the Owls (6-6) started the fourth quarter on a 6-0 run to tie the score at 41 with seven minutes left. Calvert Hall regained the lead, and Towson Catholic came within three points with a minute to play before Sean Holmes went 2-for-4 from the foul line to secure the win. Levi Noel led the Owls with 16 points, and Devin Spencer had 12. No. 11 EDMONDSON 56, PARK 38: : Karl Nelson scored 18 points, tied for the game high, in a losing effort for the Bruins (5-3)

Akeema Richards scored 11 of her 15 points in the first half as visiting Western (2-4) handed Dunbar (3-1) its first loss, 53-29, yesterday. The West Virginia-bound senior mixed mid-range jump shots with drives to the basket to give the No. 3 Doves a 28-14 halftime lead. She scored eight points in the second quarter. Keirah Hicks added nine points for Western. Michelle Wright, who came into the game averaging 23.7 points for the Poets, was held to 12 as the Doves gave her different looks on defense.

The Edmondson offense couldn't score a point in the second half of its game with City. But the Red Storm did more than enough in the first half. Quarterback Jerry Lovelocke threw for two touchdowns and Terrence Wilson ran for two more as Edmondson scored 32 points in the first half en route to a 40-30 victory over City last night at Poly. Lovelocke and Wilson sparked a big-play offense that helped Edmondson (5-2, 4-1 Baltimore City) race to a 32-6 halftime lead. The junior quarterback threw a 33-yard touchdown pass to Darius Douglass on the third play from scrimmage, and the Red Storm never trailed.

1 Game of the Year: That is, the Game of the Year for now. Break out the guacamole for No. 1 Southern California vs. No. 5 Ohio State (8 p.m., chs. 2, 7). But no Beanie dip. 2 Badgered : USC-Ohio State isn't the only meeting between ranked teams. No. 10 Wisconsin is at No. 21 Fresno State (10:30 p.m., ESPN2). Fresno State's 24-7 win over Rutgers isn't so impressive now. 3 Still chasing: The Phillies' division and wild-card chases are at about the same place, and they get a chance to gain ground on the wild-card-leading Brewers today (3:30 p.m., chs. 45, 5)

Fairfield went on a 23-0 scoring run to open the second half and went on to beat Mount St. Mary's, 70-41, in the final of the Fordham Women's Basketball Championship yesterday in New York. Lauren Howell and Tiffany Green combined for 23 points in a losing effort by the Mount (3-9). Sabra Wrice paced the Stags (10-3) with 22 points to be named the tournament's Most Valuable Player. Baendu Lowenthal, who was also named to the all-tournament team, added 14 points and 11 rebounds, and Lauren Groom chipped in 13 points in the win. St. John's 97, Morgan State 56 -- The host Red Storm (9-4)