Zone Defense

The River Hill boys basketball team cut down its nets last night, celebrating the program's first regional title with a win that typified its season to this point. Relentless in their zone defense and unselfish on offense, the Hawks stayed a step ahead of visiting Severna Park all game and then counted on senior captain Tommy Brenton's near-perfect work from the foul line to close out a 48-37 win in the Class 3A East final. Brenton hit 13 of 14 free throws in the final 2:37 to take game-high honors with 19 points.

Towson is headed back to the Class 1A-2A state boys lacrosse championship game, although you would not have guessed it by watching the Generals' quiet postgame celebration yesterday.That's because Towson's 4-2 victory over Oakland Mills in the semifinal at UMBC wasn't exactly one for the highlight film.The first four minutes couldn't have gone smoother for Towson, as the Generals dissected Oakland Mills' man-to-man defense with three quick goals. But after the Scorpions went back to their customary zone defense, the Generals looked confused and disorganized on offense the rest of the afternoon.

Try and beat our zone defense and goalkeeper.That's what the McDonogh boys lacrosse team challenged Severn to do. But the Admirals simply had no solutions.Allowing only one goal for the first 47 minutes, the No. 8 Eagles topped visiting No. 10 Severn, 9-2, yesterday.It's the seventh straight win for McDonogh (7-1), who opened the season with a one-goal loss to St. Mary's. The Eagles are four wins away from matching their win total of last season."Our defense kept us in the game," McDonogh coach Jake Reed said.

Maryland owns a 39-22 advantage in this series with its Atlantic Coast Conference rival, but North Carolina has won four of the last six meetings. The No. 10 Tar Heels are 4-3 this spring but have followed every win with a loss. They dusted Dartmouth, 13-5, on Monday as senior attackman Marcus Holman (Gilman) registered four goals (including the 100th of his career) and one assist. The top-ranked Terps, who are the only undefeated team left in Division I, are seeking their first 7-0 start since 2004.

It was just two weeks ago that the Dunbar boys basketball team finally settled on its starting lineup. All the while, the No. 3 Poets, defending Baltimore City and three-time Class 1A state champions, have found different ways to win. On the road against No. 8 Poly in a showdown of unbeaten league teams, Dunbar mostly relied on a tough zone defense and poised play in the closing minutes for a 55-43 victory. Senior guards Daxter Miles (15 points) and Kamau Stokes (12) led the offense, and the defensive scheme frustrated the Engineers most of the way. The Poets improved to 11-1 overall and 5-0 in Baltimore City's Division I, while Poly, which got a game-high 19 points from forward Darrion Stokes-Graham, is now 11-3 and 4-1 in league play.

Linganore's game plan was to attack Howard's full-court press and slow down the Lions' up-tempo style.Except for the first quarter, when Howard raced to a 19-11 lead, the Lancers were successful at that plan and the Frederick County team rallied for a 65-50 win at Howard yesterday. It was the Lions' first loss after two wins. Linganore is 2-1.Howard's 19-for-50 shooting performance was caused partly by a tall and physical Linganore squad that intimidated the Lions inside.Linganore's lineup included 6-foot-5, 240-pound Adam Shively, 6-4 Boys basketballDave Jorgenson, 6-5 Andrew Pennington and 6-5, 250-pound Bret Thompson, who is being recruited by several Division I schools for football.

FAIRFAX, Va. - Coppin State stuck with its defensive game plan last night. However, it played right into host George Mason's hands. The Eagles played a loose zone defense and forced the Patriots into outside shots. The problem was Mason, which averaged 5.6 three-pointers a game coming in, kept making them. The Patriots made 11 of 22 from behind the arc and connected on three backdoor alley-oops to embarrass Coppin State, 80-44, before 1,910 at the Patriot Center. It was the Eagles' sixth consecutive loss to George Mason in a series that dates back to when both schools were members of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.

The first meeting between traditional basketball powers St. Frances and Mount Hebron didn't quite live up to its billing. The top-ranked Panthers scored the season-opening game's first 11 points, led by as many as 17 points in the third quarter and fought off the No. 4 Vikings in the final period for a 54-36 win yesterday. Sophomore forward Angel McCoutry led the Panthers with 19 points and enjoyed starting after coming off the bench last season. "We expected a tougher game, but we respect Mount Hebron a lot," she said.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- In Chris Weller's mind, her ninth-ranked Maryland women's basketball team will play the perfect game only when it commits fewer than 10 turnovers and grabs 10 more rebounds than its opponent.By that definition, the Terps did not play the perfect game last night here against No. 7 Penn State. But they did nearly everything else perfectly, in trouncing the Nittany Lions, 85-58, before 2,871 disbelieving fans.Maryland (5-0), which broke Penn State's 29-game regular-season home winning streak, applied intense defensive pressure to force 29 Nittany Lions turnovers and hold Penn State to 31 percent shooting from the field.

Mount Hebron may have lost three times to tough teams last week, but what the 14th-ranked Vikings learned during those losses was put to good use yesterday at Glenelg.Mount Hebron (5-4 overall, 5-0 league) displayed a total package, including an outstanding effort from goalkeeper Pat McClammer, to defeat Glenelg, 11-2."Last week helped us a lot because we played high-level competition," McClammer said. "We brought that high level here today to show everybody that Mount Hebron is here to stay.