Spain Pushes Glen Burnie Boys Past Old Mill

The boys' basketball team passed an important early season test on Friday by defeating , 74-67.

Senior Brandon Spain sparked the Gophers with 29 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and five steals.

"We haven't been in a close game until tonight. This was good for us. I told them before the game this was going to be a playoff-like environment," Glen Burnie coach Mike Rudd said.

Each team entered undefeated in county play, hoping to knock off their talented opponents.

A first-quarter block by Will Brown on Old Mill's Brian Hinton let the visiting Patriots know points inside the paint would be at a premium during the contest. Brown protected the Glen Burnie basket all night, registering a game-high nine blocks.

"Now it's Brandon [Spain] and William [Brown]'s turn to lead this group," Rudd said about two seniors.

Glen Burnie took advantage of a poor second quarter from Old Mill, who scored only seven points.

"Right now we're having trouble scoring. In that second quarter, we scored seven points. You're not going to win very many basketball games scoring seven points [in a quarter]," Old Mill coach Greg Smith said.

As if Brown's presence on defense wasn't enough, the senior forward just missed an emphatic second-quarter alley-oop off an inbounds play. Despite the miss, Brown still sent the Gopher fans to their feet in a frenzy.

At the break, Glen Burnie led, 34-22.

The game wasn't looking good for Old Mill when Spain picked off a pass to open the third quarter and went in for the basket, while drawing the foul. The Patriots didn't quit though. Hinton hit 10 of his 25 points in the third quarter, while Gavin Salmond began to find more lanes to the basket.

"We've got to find a little bit more consistency from the outside. Gavin is going to get to the basket and Brian is going to knock down some shots, but we've got to get more support," Smith said.

Salmond would add 13 fourth-quarter points, as Old Mill fought to stay in the game.

"They could have went away very easily, but they've got way too much pride and they just fought all the way to the end. That's a credit to Greg Smith, who is a really good basketball coach," Rudd said.

Protecting their fourth-quarter lead, the Gophers were sent to the free-throw line often. Glen Burnie proceeded to go 22-27 from the charity stripe, including Spain's 14-18, as they would not relinquish the lead.

"That was some of the best basketball we've played in a long time," Rudd said.