Atholton's D.J. Chiles was so focused and his adrenalin so high for yesterday's game at Mount Hebron that after it was over he couldn't remember who had guarded him.
What he and his teammates will remember was a 72-65 victory that gave them their second straight county championship and a 21-1 record -- the best in Atholton's history.
And what they will remember was a superb game by Chiles, a senior forward who scored 21 points, grabbed 15 rebounds and made seven steals.
"This was a big win -- our most exciting game of the season," Chiles said.
The only blemish on 11th-ranked Atholton's record is a three-point loss to Oakland Mills in the first league game.
Since then the Raiders have won 13 straight.
Last year they shared the title with Mount Hebron. Yesterday's ++ victory meant that Atholton won the title outright, although No. 19 Mount Hebron (15-7 overall, 10-4 league) and Oakland Mills battled them down to the final week of the league season.
The game wasn't decided until the last minute, and the pivotal factors were 14 Atholton steals and 23 Mount Hebron turnovers.
In the second quarter Atholton overcame a horrendous first quarter of shooting (2-for-18) by making seven steals and scoring off six of them.
The Raiders went from trailing 13-7 after one quarter to leading 31-22 late in the second quarter. Mount Hebron made a 7-2 run at the end of the quarter to trail at halftime, 33-29.
In the third quarter Atholton built a 48-41 lead only to watch the Vikings score the last six points and trail Atholton 48-47 heading into the final period.
Mount Hebron's Kevin Tonkins, who scored 14 points, had five rebounds, two blocked shots and two steals, scored the last four points of the quarter. And teammate Patrick Ngongba (12 points, 12 rebounds, three steals) made three steals in the third quarter.
That Viking momentum continued into the fourth period for Mount Hebron, which went ahead 61-56 with 3:56 left to play.
A 10-2 Mount Hebron run that produced the lead was sparked by the shooting of Kurt Jestes (16 points), who scored 11 points in the fourth period.
But Atholton retaliated with a 10-0 run that put it ahead 66-61. Six of those points came off three steals -- two by Tyrone Allmond (12 points, three steals) and one by Chiles.
Atholton's Nat Watkins (14 points, eight rebounds) scored eight points down the stretch, including the basket that put the Raiders ahead to stay, 62-61, with 3:02 left.
Mount Hebron closed to 66-63, but failed to cash in on two missed one-and ones by Atholton.
After the second miss with 1:01 to play, the Vikings had three shots that wouldn't fall. Then Watkins made a layup and Chiles sank two free throws to clinch the victory.
All five Raider starters scored in double figures. In addition to Chiles, Allmond and Watkins, Brian Benden scored 13 and Varian Harvey scored 10.