"What a week. What a regional," Meade coach Butch Young exclaimed just after his No. 5-ranked Mustangs won the Class 4A East region title in overtime last night, 53-51, over visiting No. 9 Old Mill.
Meade capped one of the most thrilling East regionals in Anne Arundel County history by becoming the first team to win three games in overtime.
After drawing a first-round bye, the Mustangs stunned favored No. 2 Annapolis (23-2), 59-56, in OT on Monday and on Wednesday, escaped Carroll County with a 53-52 OT win victory at Westminster.
In beating Old Mill (21-4) for the third time this season, Meade's Jeff Charles, a 6-foot-4 senior swingman, was the main hero with 15 points and 11 rebounds.
"We earned this -- went through a hard bracket, and still pulled it off," said Charles. "We weren't supposed to do anything at the beginning, but we worked hard all season and got it done."
Charles, being recruited by Navy, scored the go-ahead basket in the extra four-minute session, and Doug Underwood added a pair of free throws with 26 seconds left for the margin of victory.
Old Mill did not score in overtime until Tim Smith's lay-in with six seconds remaining. Smith finished with game-high totals of 24 points and five steals to go with three assists.
"I feel for these kids. What a great group of kids I had," said Old Mill coach Paul Bunting. "They gave a fantastic effort. We're going to miss our six seniors dearly, and not only as basketball players."
Both teams missed chances to win in the final four seconds of regulation in what was a back-and-forth battle.
"Every game was like this. What a week," Young kept saying.
The region title was Young's fourth in 22 seasons at Meade and 32 years of coaching, the last in 1993 and the others in 1988 and 1983.
Young and his Mustangs (24-2) also set a county public-school record for most wins (24) in a season with the thrilling victory. They will meet the South region winner from Prince George's County (Oxon Hill is likely) in a state semifinal at 7 p.m. Thursday at the University of Maryland, College Park.
"We let the lead get away from us tonight and didn't have the killer [instinct], and we have to have that to win at Cole," said Young.
Meade led 12-10 after the first quarter and took a 25-24 halftime lead on junior guard Eric Brown's half-court three-pointer at the buzzer.
Brown's shot seemed to give Meade the momentum, and the Mustangs built a 41-32 lead with 2: 25 left in the third period on a tip-in and three-point play by Charles and a free throw by Terrell Ross. Ross, with 11 last night, had 49 in the Mustangs wins this week.
Old Mill closed the third with a 6-0 run and caught the Mustangs at 49-49 on a free throw by Galloway with 1: 12 left in regulation.
Pub Date: 3/06/99