All season Atholton coach Jim Albert has praised the play of junior point guard Tyrone Allmond.
Last night at Oakland Mills, in a game crucial to the county championship, No. 14 Atholton trailed by one point with 18 seconds left to play.
Atholton (15-1 overall, 7-1 league) called timeout, and there was no doubt who Albert wanted to take the last shot. He called a play designed for Allmond to drive the lane.
Allmond didn't let him down and made the winning basket against No. 16 Oakland Mills (13-3, 6-2) with four seconds left for a 57-56 victory.
Allmond, a left-hander, was overplayed to his left, so he made a crossover move, spun right and shot with his right hand. His defender, Fardan Carter, couldn't have played him much better.
"I thought about double-teaming Allmond, but Carter is really quick so I didn't think we needed to," Oakland Mills coach Dave Appleby said.
The victory enabled defending county co-champion Atholton to avenge its only defeat of the season, a three-point loss to Oakland Mills in the league opener.
"We didn't think we should have lost that first one so we took this personal," Allmond said.
The victory also gave the Raiders a sweep this week over its two top competitors in what has developed into a three-team county race among Atholton, Oakland Mills and defending county co-champ Mount Hebron.
"We thought if we could get by this week then we could win the county," Allmond said.
Oakland Mills got off a final shot in the last four seconds, but Quan Davis missed a potential game-winner from the top of the circle.
"I thought they'd go to Irving [Conwell] or [Mike] Hill for the final shot," Allmond said. "Quan was the one we wanted to take the shot."
Appleby said: "The final play was designed to go to Conwell, but he couldn't get open. Give Allmond the credit. He made the shot."
It was a game that Atholton won with its domination on the boards, its defense and its balanced scoring.
Varian Harvey (12 points, 12 rebounds), D.J. Chiles (12 points, 10 rebounds) and Nat Watkins (13 points, eight rebounds) showed why they are the best front-court combination in the county.
Watkins played especially well in the fourth quarter when the biggest lead was 51-46 for Atholton with 5:16 left.
Sparked by Shawn Hill's eight points in the final five minutes, Oakland Mills rallied, however. And Conwell (24 points, eight rebounds) sank a driving layup with 25 seconds left that put Oakland Mills ahead, 56-55.
Oakland Mills held a 31-23 halftime lead based on a 17-8 second-quarter run. Atholton made just three of 15 shots in the second quarter.
Mike Hill, Oakland Mills' leading scorer, was held to six points and sank only three of 16 shots. It was the time this season he failed to score in double figures.