Mt. Hebron was a team on a mission Friday night on the road against Wilde Lake.
Just two days removed from suffering a home loss against Reservoir, the Vikings responded with one of the team's best efforts of the season in a 73-48 victory over the Wildecats.
"We were outworked and outcoached against Reservoir, so some adjustments needed to be made and I thought the guys really responded tonight," Mt. Hebron coach Mike Linsenmeyer said. "That's by far our largest margin of victory this season. We haven't really beaten anyone like that. And the great thing is that it was a total team effort."
The bounce back victory for Mt. Hebron (7-3, 10-3), which saw four guys finish with nine or more points, marked the third time this season the Vikings have responded positively after a loss.
It's that ability to avoid extended losing skids so far that Mark Smith, who scored a team-high 19 points against Wilde Lake, says makes this year's Vikings group stand out.
"We know that great teams don't just win games, but they respond when they lose," Smith said. "All three losses this year, we have come back out and responded great. We had a good win against Long Reach after Centennial, a big win over River Hill after Oakland Mills and now tonight I thought may have been our best game of the season.
"The big thing for us is just staying positive and not letting a bad performance carry over into the next game."
Mt. Hebron had to contend with a hot-shooting Wilde Lake team in the early stages Friday night. The Wildecats, who were led on the evening by Steven Jordan's 14 points, hit a trio of 3-pointers in the first quarter on the way to putting themselves within three points, 22-19, of the Vikings after the opening eight minutes.
But Mt. Hebron changed things up defensively and held Wilde Lake to just seven points in the second quarter. With the team's offense maintaining its tempo, the Vikings' lead was up to 41-26 at the intermission.
"We started off in a zone in the first quarter and they hit some tough shots. They hit a lot of threes." Smith said. "But as soon as we switched to man, we pressured them and we forced a lot of turnovers."
Mt. Hebron never let up at any point in the second half and ended up cruising to the 25-point win.
Aside from Smith, Joey Trapuzzano (17 points) and Lance Madden (10) also finished in double figures.
"We have a lot of guys who can play, so we are able to try a lot of different line-ups to figure out works best and tonight's line-up did well," Linsenmeyer said. "Like Lance Madden came off the bench and played his best game of the season. He's been doing a great job in practice and it really showed itself on the court tonight."
While this year's Mt. Hebron squad is currently on track to better the 12-12 record of last year's team, Linsenmeyer said no ones getting ahead of themselves. There was a point last year where that Vikings team was sitting at 7-3 before struggling down the stretch.
The good news, according to Linsenmeyer, is that there's a different feel around the team this fall.
"Last year we were pretty predictable in terms of what we were going to do. I think we have a few more choices in terms of what we can do this year," "We just have a lot deeper team and so that allows us to switch things up and play different ways, something you saw out there tonight."
Mt. Hebron 73, Wilde Lake 48
MH (7-3, 10-3): M. Smith 19, Trapuzzano 17, Madden 10, A. Smith 9, Horton 6, Linsenmeyer 5, Stock 4, Carbonetti 3.
WL (1-9, 3-10): Jordan 14, Barnes 11, Delarosa 8, Stubblefield 4, Morgan 4, Ichrist 4, Lamptey 3.
Half: 41-26 MH.