Basketball: Cavalier Boys Win Close Game To Advance to Region Final

South Carroll boys basketball squad had to make a come back to defeat Wheaton 50-47 at home Wednesday night. 

The Cavaliers now set up a third meeting with Winters Mill on Friday night. The teams met during the regular season and split the games winning on their home courts.

Winters Mill downed North Hagerstown on Wednesday 56-47 to advance to the Class 2A West region final at South Carroll.

When asked if his team was looking ahead to the next game, Cavalier coach Doug Goff said, "No, no. We just try to win the games. When you get to playoff games, opponents pick up their game. They pick up their intensity. So at times, they aren’t going to be pretty."

Wheaton held South Carroll’s all-time scorer, Ryan McTavish to only three points heading into the fourth period. He exploded to score 10 of the Cavaliers 22 points in the final eight minutes of play.

"He (McTavish) gets asked to guard the team’s best player. He gets pumped up and gives it a lot of energy on offense and that takes him out of his comfortable zone shooting. I just told him to relax and keep shooting when you are open and eventually we will find a rhythm. He needed one to get going and he hit one and then he hit another one. I have confidence in him," said Goff.

Ryan’s brother, Gavin scored eight of his team high 14 in the final period.

The Cavaliers were down 26-22 at half time and were down by three, 31-28 going into the final period. With 4:56 left in the game, Ryan McTavish hit a three-pointer to give the home team a three point lead and never gave up the lead the rest of the game. The Cavaliers sunk five foul shots in the last 1:06 to preserve the victory.

"I told my guys at halftime and before the game that if we were down four with four minutes to go, I would feel pretty good," said Goff.

When the game was over the Wheaton fans were unhappy with the outcome and the Carroll County Sheriff’s Department responded to keep the peace. Flashing emergency lights greeted fans as they left the school.

South Carroll improved to 24-1 for the season.

Also scoring for South Carroll was Jeff Martin with nine, Dan Mullen and Ryan Tate with six each and Eric Hunsberger with two.

The Knights were led by Rayshawn Taylor with 21.

With 13 points in the game, Ryan McTavish now has 1,459 for his career and is chasing Westminster’s Herman Costley’s county record of 1,487.

The 2A West region championship game is set for 7 p.m., Friday night. Cost of admission is $5 with free admission to youth under the age of 7. Only MPSSAA passes will be accepted.

Students are asked to wear yellow and the parents black for the game.