Sparrows Point coach Russ Lingner said his team hoped to learn from the mistakes of its 27-point loss to Milford Mill in December.
And while the Pointers certainly played better in last night's rematch, they learned something else -- don't let Milford Mill have multiple scoring runs late in the game.
No. 12 Milford Mill used runs of 14, nine and six points in the final 12 minutes to rally for a 75-58 victory over visiting Sparrows Point in a Baltimore County 1A-2A game.
Milford Mill (13-2, 11-0) led most of the game, but Sparrows Point (9-6, 8-3) scored 15 of the first 19 points in the second half for a 46-42 lead with 3:18 left in the third quarter. At that point, Milford Mill coach Homer Seidel delivered a message to his team.
"I told them [in a timeout] we're not being patient, and we're just throwing the ball around and having a high time in the city," said Seidel. "We then started getting into a little bit of an offense."
Milford Mill looked like a different team after the timeout. The Millers began passing the ball well and often found Blanchard Hurd, who scored 29 points.
The 6-foot-7 Hurd, who also pulled down 20 rebounds, sparked his team's 14-0 run after the timeout for a 56-46 lead. He scored nine in that stretch as the Millers held Sparrows Point without a point for 5:42.
Hurd and Taron Wimbish (12 points) combined for all of the points in a 9-0 run that pushed the Milford Mill lead to 65-50 with 2:48 left. Wimbish, Brian Whorley (10 points) and Carlos Pearson (nine points) helped in the final six-point run.
"The shots weren't going in," said Milford Mill guard Keon Sellman, who finished with five points, five steals, six assists and eight rebounds. "We decided to take our time and start working for the good shot."
Milford Mill, which also got a strong performance from guard Aaron Herbert (eight points), took advantage of 22 Sparrows Point turnovers. Turnovers led to 11 of Milford Mill's 26 fourth-quarter points.
Sparrows Point received big performances from Carnell Damon (22 points), Griffin Dingle (14 points) and Pete Marshall (10 points) to stay close much of the night.
Dingle, Marshall, Jerod Adams and Niam Young also were faced with another tough task -- guarding Hurd. Sparrows Point often put as many as three players at one time on Hurd, and those four all made him work for his points.
* Mount St. Joseph 63, Severn 47: Dan Whye scored 27 to lead visiting Mount St. Joseph (11-8) over No. 15 Severn (15-7).