Boys Basketball: Size Advantage Powers Eagles Over Dundalk

While many local high school basketball fans ventured north up Reisterstown Road to watch Franklin host Patterson and  5’6 point guard phenom Aquille Carr Tuesday night, Owings Mills showed its loyal fans the importance of having a few dominant big men.

Forwards Austin Eber, Kevin Yrizzary and Gerard Mercer combined for 29 rebounds—many of which came on the offensive end—and controlled the paint on both sides of the floor to help the Eagles secure a 65-53 region quarterfinal victory over Dundalk.

Mercer led all scorers with 16 points off the bench, while guards Ahmaad Wilson and Carjahn Jenkins netted 12 and 10, respectively, to help Owings Mills get out to an early 17-2 first quarter lead.

With the win, the Eagles (17-6) will travel to face top-seeded Lake Clifton in the Class 2A North semifinals on Thursday.

“If we didn’t have the size, this would’ve been a totally different basketball game,” Owings Mills head coach Rick Epps said. “The size is what actually helped us win this game. Actually, the size is what’s helped us all year. The games that our bigs come to play, and play well, we win those games.”  

Against Dundalk (1-19), several of the Eagles’ guards were as tall, if not taller, than the Owls’ forwards. As a result, Owings Mills played a virtual game of volleyball above the rim, tipping rebounds to one another for second chance opportunities.

On offense, the Owls had no one that could match up inside and were forced to swing the ball around the perimeter to create shots—ones that didn’t start to fall until the fourth quarter when the game was out of reach.

Owls guard Antuan Scott came on strong in that final frame, tallying all of his team-high 15 points in the final eight minutes to help bridge the gap late.

Although Epps’ Eagles captured a region title a year ago, it’s easy to forget that this year’s squad boasts only three players (Wilson, Jenkins and Eber) who saw prime minutes on the 2011 team.  

Come Thursday against Lake Clifton, he knows his Eagles can’t afford any mental lapses or sloppy play.  

“It’s playoff time. So every game matters. There’s no losing a game and you’re playing tomorrow,” Epps said. “I had to stress to them early that we have to get this game out of the way and get it over with early. If this game had been a little bit closer, with them hitting the threes at the end, it could’ve been a totally different game.

“It’s good to get the win and get the rusty game out of the way. Hopefully they won’t play this way on Thursday.”  

BOX SCORE

Owings Mills 65, Dundalk 53

OM 17 15 11 22 ---- 65

D     2    9  10  32 ---- 53

OM – G. Mercer 16, A. Wilson 12, C. Jenkins 10, A. Eber 7, R. Johnson 6, K. Yrizzary 4,C. Coit 2, T. Bankert 2, R. Bolden 2, D. Jenkins 2, D. Archer , D. Joseph.

D – A. Scott 15, K. Southers 13, E. Marable 10, A. Raza 5, D. Jackson 4, C. Thomas 2, J. Mojica 2., J. James 2.