Playing on the road Monday evening, Centennial overcame a sluggish start to pull away in the second half for a convincing 72-49 over Hammond.
The Eagles, who led just 30-24 at the half, scored the first 10 points out of the break and never looked back en route to the team's third straight win by 20 or more points. Isaiah White (19 points), Tom Brown (18) and Chad Strothers (16) led the way in the win for Centennial (9-0, 11-1).
"We came out a little slow and at the half we were definitely talking about what we needed to do," Brown said. "Kevin (Wilson) was talking about how we needed to push the ball, so we started doing that and getting easy stuff. Isaiah had a big game that really helped finished the game for us."
Hammond (1-8, 2-10) was coming off its first county win of the season last Friday against Wilde Lake and the Golden Bears hung around early against the Eagles. After trailing by 12, 28-16, midway through the second quarter, Hammond went on an 8-2 run to close the first half behind Malik Wilcher (11 points) and Vershon Wheatley (11).
But just as quickly as the Bears had gotten back into it, Centennial came out and distanced itself to begin the third quarter. Punctuated by a lay-up by Kevin Wilson, the Eagles' 10-0 push to start the half made it 40-26.
Hammond never got closer than within 10 points the rest of the way.
"That's been the issue all year for us. We have been in basically every game except for the Oakland Mills game, but we go through these four minute stretches where we absolutely fall apart and the game gets away from us," Hammond coach Mike Salapata said.
Brown said that with the Eagles in first place, they have to expect to get everyone's best moving forward and that Hammond's effort early was a good lesson for the team.
"Right now, standing at the top of the county, we have a target on our backs. We have to be ready for that," Brown said. "We just have to be 1-0 at the end of every day."
Centennial is back in action on Wednesday at 5:30 against River Hill, which has won six straight games.
Centennial 72, Hammond 49
C (9-0, 11-1): I. White 19, Brown 18, Strothers 16, Clemens 5, Wilson 4, Merkey 3, E. White 3, An 2, Fowler 2.
Ha (1-8, 2-10): Nicholas 11, Wheatley 11, Wilcher 8, J. Thomas 4, N. Moore 4, White 4, Ridgell 2, Whong 2, Johnson 2, A. Moore 1.
Half: 30-24 C.