State Semifinal Preview: Owings Mills vs. Dunbar

Over the course of the past two seasons, Owings Mills has composed quite the résumé of accomplishments, posting a 43-10 overall record (including 23-3 this season) and making back-to-back trips to the Comcast Center for the state semifinals. 

Still, there is one feat the Eagles have yet to pull off—solving the mystery of how to beat city power Dunbar. The Poets sent Owings Mills home with a loss in the state title game last year, and beat them convincingly (73-51) back in January.

However, this time around, working in the Eagles favor is the fact that for the first time in three meetings, they actually have ample time to scout, prepare and practice for the perennial tournament team.

Last year’s championship game came less than 24 hours after Owings Mills’ semifinal victory and their matchup this year in the regular season followed a two week stretch without practice because of the snow—factors that, Eagles coach Richard Epps said, left his players ill-equipped to handle the talented Poets.

“It’s great to be able to practice,” Epps said, his squad having the entire week to ready themselves for Friday’s 3 p.m. tip.

“We’ve never been able to really prepare and Dunbar is not a team that you cannot prepare to play. They aren’t going to do anything to beat themselves. So you really have to go out there and win the basketball game to beat them.”  

Epps also hopes that, despite losing big in the regular season, his squad’s previous matchup in the “bright lights” atmosphere at Coppin State (where the two teams played in January) will help ready them for an even bigger stage at the Comcast Center.

“It gave them an idea of what to expect,” Epps said. “So are they going to be scared? Probably so. But, I don’t think they will be as terrified as they were early in the year. We’ve done a lot of growing up since then.”

 Regardless of how scared or nervous they were, the Eagles flustered style of play in their first meeting this year led to countless turnovers and 30 fast break points for the Poets, something that Owings Mills must cut down on to stay in the game.

If the Eagles can prevent easy run-outs and force the Poets to beat them with their half-court offense—thus slowing the pace down in favor of Owings Mills—they have a much better chance of coming out on top.

Dunbar assistant coach Paul Banks makes it no secret that high intensity play and continuously strong effort on the defensive end is the straw that stirs the drink for the Poets.

“Playing defense hard and just getting after it for the whole 32 minutes,” Banks said, when asked what’s made his team so successful over the course of the season. “We’re just a team that plays hard. We don’t have any unsung heroes or standout [players]. We just have a group of guys that play together and play hard. They are very unselfish.”  

That style of basketball has enabled Dunbar to average over 67 points per game this season, while allowing a microscopic 43 points on average defensively.

Leading the way for Dunbar this season is 6’5 guard-forward Devante Wallace who is averaging a team-high 17.5 points per game.

“Devonte is real scrappy,” Banks said of the senior. “He can shoot, he can fill it up, he can rebound well and he can put it on the floor. He has an overall game and he plays hard—that’s  his thing.”  

The Eagles will also have to key on guards Evan Singletary (12.3 ppg) and Iakeem Alston (12 ppg), the Poets second and third leading scorers. 

Point guard Donte Pretlow is averaging 7.9 points and a team-high 7.5 assists per contest.

With talented scorers scattered all over the court for Dunbar, Owings Mills must remain disciplined in their variety of zone defenses (something it's done virtually all season), while at the same time minimizing its turnovers and not creating extra offensive possessions for the Poets—something that burned them last time around.

However, both coaching staffs have put the past games and previous records behind them, their sole focus being Friday afternoon’s matchup.

Owings Mills has salivated over this game since falling to Dunbar in the regular season, especially after the challenge Epps delivered to his players following that contest.

 “I honestly believe that losing to them in the way they lost may actually come back to be a plus,” Epps said.

He said he told his players back in January: “If you don’t believe they are 20 points better than you, you need to do what you got to do to see them again, because they are going to be [in the state semifinal]. It’s a matter of, are you going to be there to play them?

“You got your wish now.”

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Dunbar Basketball Quick Facts

• Second all time with 12 State Championships
• Tied for 5^th all-time with 16 tournament appearances
• Championships won: 1993-96, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2003-06, 2010
• 80-22 under fourth year head  coach Cyrus Jones
• Opened the year 13-0 before losing first game to Edmondson/Westside 70-66