Without starting guard Fardan Carter, No. 17 Oakland Mills (16-3, 9-2) had to reach down for something extra yesterday to beat Wilde Lake, 54-53, and remain one game behind league-leading Mount Hebron and Atholton.
Carter left the team last week at his mother's request because she wants him to improve his grades.
Oakland Mills' Mike Hill had 23 points and 11 rebounds. And Irving Conwell had 14 points, four rebounds and two steals.
Conwell made a crucial rebound off a missed one-and-one with 38 seconds left. He converted the rebound into a layup to put his team up 53-50.
And Hill made a crucial rebound off a missed Wilde Lake shot with 19 seconds left, was fouled and converted one free throw to make it 54-50.
Oakland Mills senior Matt Wichita (five points), playing a 6-foot-7 small forward position, started in Carter's place and sank two crucial free throws with 2:05 left.
Oakland Mills senior center Tony Howard (five points) scored all of his points during the middle of the fourth quarter, including a three-point play that tied it at 45.
"Everyone contributed for us," Conwell said. "Quan [Davis] made some good passes. It was just bad timing to lose one of our key players because Fardan and Quan and I played a special defense that we can't play now. Now everyone is going to have to step up."
Wilde Lake wasted a fine game by 6-foot-8 1/2 center Carl Jackson, who scored 20 points and had 11 rebounds. He sank seven of 12 shots from the floor and blocked two shots.
"Wilde Lake played a good game and took away our fast break," Conwell said. "I wasn't getting many shots. Sometimes we didn't run our offense well enough and sometimes I just didn't work hard enough to get open."
Wilde Lake coach Paul Ellis said: "We wanted to frustrate Conwell and I think we did. But we missed too many layups to beat a team of Oakland Mills' quality."
Wilde Lake (9-10, 5-6) lost to Oakland Mills, 70-50, earlier this season, but this time the Wildecats avoided getting caught up in a running game. Wilde Lake played at its tempo and made few turnovers.
By avoiding giving up easy transition baskets the Wildecats stayed close throughout the game and nearly pulled off an upset. Neither team ever led by more than six points and the biggest lead in the second half was four points.