Southern enjoyed a brief lead, 2-0, over Rockville after sophomore guard Chatney Howard (15 points) fired up the first basket of last night's Class 2A Region III boys basketball semifinal.

From there, however, the fourth-seeded Bulldogs (13-11) were ripped by the home-standing Rams (18-4), who sank 11 three-pointers en route to a 63-45 victory.

Rockville, the tournament's top seed, built its biggest lead, 63-43, in the fourth period behind Bryan Sims (18 points), DeMond Gibson(16) and Sonny O'Dell (10). Sims scored all of his points from three-point range.

The cushion was established in the first quarter when the Bulldogs turned the ball over 10 times -- 17 in the half -- to fall behind, 18-9.

Southern, led by Howard -- who had a pair of three-pointers -- and Terell Jones (10 points), played the Rams evenly in the second period and were down only 30-22 at the half.

But Southern couldn't close the gap, trailing by as much as 42-29 in the third period.

Southern was coming off of a 72-68 quarterfinal victoryover Central of Prince George's County, in which Jones had 29 pointsand Howard added 20.