Seven Points

Is it any wonder Meade senior David Beck is looking forward to tomorrow's opening round of the Class 4A Region IV basketball playoffs?After Friday night, every Mustang should be eagerly awaiting the next game.With 13 of its 15 available players scoring, led by Beck with a game-high 20 points, Meade easily disposed of host Severna Park, 84-61, for its second blowout win over the Falcons this season.The Mustangs (17-5) cruised to a 79-59 victory back on Jan. 4, with Beck again netting 20 points.

The inside-outside game of Branden Albert and Mitch Guest combined for 55 points last night as host and No. 8 Glen Burnie earned a crucial 75-71 victory over No. 17 Old Mill in Anne Arundel County boys basketball. Albert scored a career-high 30 points and Guest had 25 as the Gophers shot 48 percent (31-for-65) and overcame a poor night at the foul line (7-for-20, including 5-for-13 in the fourth quarter). Glen Burnie (17-2) all but clinched a berth in the county championship game on Feb. 26. The Gophers are 12-1 in the county and need only one win in their final three games to finish in the top two. Old Mill (15-4)

Centennial outplayed Wilde Lake for more than three quarters yesterday, but the visiting Eagles needed an overtime period to erase a comeback by Wilde Lake and escape with a 71-65 victory.The 17th-ranked Eagles (8-2, 1-1) trailed briefly in overtime, when Seth Willingham hit a three-pointer to give Wilde Lake a 65-64 lead, the Wildecats' first advantage since late in the first quarter. But Centennial regrouped to score the game's last seven points and hand Wilde Lake (3-5, 0-2) its second consecutive overtime defeat at home.

Wherever Lloyd "Butch" Keaser speaks, at wrestling clinics or IBM functions or to high school groups, he shares a bittersweet experience with his audience.Keaser won a silver medal in wrestling at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal -- after entering his final match with a virtual lock on a gold.A graduate of Brooklyn Park High and the Naval Academy, Keaser was in position to win the gold even if he lost his last match to the Soviet Union's Pavel Pinigin. The rub, the confusing part, was that he couldn't afford to lose to Pinigin by more than seven points.

Playing in their house, unranked North County was not about to go away and gave No. 7 St. Frances all it could handle before bowing, 64-53, in Ferndale last night.The final margin was the biggest lead the visiting Panthers had all night, having taken a 32-21 lead at the half and attaining the 11-point edge only two other times early in the last period.St. Frances (3-0) led by 54-43 with just under five minutes remaining, but the Knights (0-1) cut it to 57-51 with 53 seconds left. The Panthers then scored their final seven points from the free-throw line with senior guards Charles Lightfoot sinking five of six and Tavon McCoy (team-high 15 points)

Visiting Loyola shot 20-for-25 from the free-throw line but just 13-for-54 from the field in a 67-46 loss to Virginia Commonwealth yesterday in women's basketball. Katie Scherle led Loyola (2-6) with 10 points and six rebounds. Krystle Harrington followed with seven points and four assists. Michele Cosel came off the bench and scored a career-high 16 points for Virginia Commonwealth (3-3), including 3-for-3 from three-point range. The Greyhounds outrebounded the Rams 41-37. University of Dallas 72, College of Notre Dame 45: The Gators, who shot 3-for-26 in the first half and trailed 29-11 at the break, lost to the Crusaders in the final game of the University of Dallas Classic.

Just when visiting Elkton looked as though it was climbing back into last night's game, Edgewood's front line went to work.Alfred McAllister, Maurice Edison, and Kenton Worthington, bigger and stronger than their Elkton foes, accounted for all their side's points in an 11-2 burst early in the third quarter, blunting a comeback that had the visitors within 10.At the finish, the three had combined for 47 points in a 61-47 victory."

Exactly how good are the Patriots? So stinkin' good that no matter how high the point spread, they keep beating it. Be impressed with 5-0 in the standings and the notion that New England and their Hall of Fame-caliber quarterback, Tom Brady, will wrap up the AFC East before Thanksgiving, if you want. I'm floored that these guys are 5-0 against the spread despite the fact that every week, bettors who like these guys are looking at a line that the Pats have to beat by more than two touchdowns.

Jason Buris scored 17 points, including four three-pointers, to lead the visiting Perry Hall basketball team to a 67-60 upset of No. 17 Catonsville last night. The Gators' Dale Seward added 16 points, including nine in the second quarter, when Perry Hall (11-0) gained the lead. Steve Roblin had 12 points to lead the Comets (7-4). No. 3 Annapolis 65, Arundel 53: Thomas Hawkins had 17 of his game-high 27 points in the second half as the host Panthers (9-0) rallied to beat the Wildcats.

INDIANAPOLIS - The Indiana Hoosiers enjoyed a measure of payback against the Maryland Terrapins in a wild edition of the Atlantic Coast Conference/Big Ten Challenge last night, as 10th-ranked Indiana erased a four-point deficit late in regulation and scored the final seven points in overtime to overtake the ninth-ranked Terps, 80-74, before 15,715 at Conseco Fieldhouse. Indiana senior point guard Tom Coverdale equaled his career-high with 30 points to lead the Hoosiers (5-0), as Indiana handed Maryland its first loss of the season and somewhat evened a score with the Terps, who beat the Hoosiers in the NCAA tournament championship game eight months ago. It was a brutal way for the Terps (3-1)