The entire scenario at South Carroll last night was too much for Westminster to overcome.
The pre-game music on the stage was loud, the Cavaliers' fans were into the game in a big way and South Carroll played with more emotion in the first half than it has all season.
The Cavaliers created a lot of problems for the Owls by switching defenses a lot in the first half, and South Carroll senior guard Greg Mihalko was pumped up.
With the festive atmosphere surrounding him, Mihalko scored 23 points to lead South Carroll to a 57-52 victory over the Owls that clinched at least a tie for the Carroll County championship for the Cavaliers.
South Carroll (7-12, 4-0 in the county) can end Westminster's two-year reign as county champion with a victory over Liberty or North Carroll in its last two county games. The Cavaliers have beaten both of those teams.
Westminster (4-15, 2-2) needs a minor miracle to gain a share of the title.
South Carroll coach Jim Carnes said: "Mihalko played a great game and we played with so much emotion in the first half that I think we were drained in the second half."
South Carroll held a 29-14 lead at halftime but allowed Westminster to climb back into the game (down 44-41 with 4:27 left in the fourth quarter).
The Westminster comeback was led by Mark Loscomb (19 points) and Justin Sholkoff (18 points).
But Mihalko answered the Westminster charge with six free throws down the stretch to account for his second-biggest scoring night of the season. He had 24 against Damascus earlier this week.
"Greg is so much more comfortable in his shooting guard role as compared to playing the point," said Carnes. "He's playing like we hoped he would before the season started. Also, we'd never had that music on the stage before and that helped."
Mihalko said the crowd and music weren't the only things that fired him up.
"Just playing Westminster and having a good chance to win my first county title in three years had me going," said Mihalko, the standout football running back who is headed for St. Francis (Pa.) College.
"Also, having my uncle [Jack Dzueranko, former Villanova football running back] down here from Philadelphia meant a lot. He watched me play football for the first time when we beat Westminster for the county title, and now he was here to see us clinch a tie for the basketball championship."
In addition to the Mihalko free-throw shooting at the end, South Carroll was helped by some poor shot selection and turnovers by Westminster.
There was also a inadvertent whistle call by the officials that went against Westminster with 3:25 left in the game and the Owls down, 48-41.
Westminster coach Dave Byers was upset over the call but said: "That's the kind of night it was. We tried to miss a free throw at the end and we couldn't even do that. We had a good effort in the second half but didn't hit enough free throws [12 of 25] to take advantage of it."