The expected showdown in Baltimore County's 3A-4A League lasted just about a half, before Randallstown's Lance Anderson put down the second-place Dundalk Owls with a 35-point performance.
Anderson scored 20 points in the first half as No. 9 Randallstown opened an 11-point lead and added 15 after intermission as the Rams clinched at least a tie for the 3A-4A with a lopsided 102-84 victory at Dundalk.
"Lance hasn't played a better game since I've been watching him for the past two seasons," said Randallstown coach Kim Rivers. "He was, what you might say, in that zone like Michael Jordan tonight."
The victory improved Randallstown's record to 18-1 overall and 17-0 in the league. The No. 16 Owls dropped to 14-3 overall and 14-2 in the league.
Anderson had hurt the Owls inside with driving shots in the first meeting between the teams and Dundalk coach Andrew Pons changed defensive tactics this time.
"We told our kids to give him some room, so he couldn't drive, but this time he hit those outside shots and that really hurt," said Pons.
Anderson was 7-for-12 from three-point range.
Randallstown also got 15 points from floor leader Troy Lewis, who scored 14 of them in the second half as the Rams opened a comfortable lead.
Dundalk got 22 points from Jaquay Jackson and 17 from Dan Thorpe.
The Rams had opened a 15-8 lead on a 7-0 run midway through the first quarter. Brian Broden hit a short jumper to begin the run and Anderson followed with the first of his four three-pointers in the first half.
After an Anderson steal and miss, Ahmed Collins scored on a follow basket to give the Rams that seven-point advantage with 4:07 left in the first quarter.
Randallstown still led 23-18 at the end of the first quarter, but Dundalk rallied to pull even at 30 midway through the second quarter on a three-pointer by Jackson.
Ahead by just 41-38 with less than 90 seconds to play in the first half the Rams ran off eight straight points in less than a minute and outscored the Owls 10-2 before the half, as Anderson scored seven of the 10 points, to open a 51-40 lead.
"We knew we needed a little lead at the half," said Anderson. "We didn't want to get into a dogfight in the second half on the road so that spurt before halftime was a key."
In the second half, Lewis scored seven points in the first three minutes and the lead ballooned to 60-44 and the Owls could never get closer than 11 points after that.
"This team is playing with unity now," said Anderson. "We were really pumped up coming [to Dundalk] this time. We knew this was the game we needed."
Said Pons: "About all you can tell your kids is that they just outplayed us this time."