Imagine hitting only 17 of 45 free throws but still winning a championship game.

No. 10 Old Mill did that last night in the Anne Arundel County boys title game, slipping past No. 14 Arundel, 74-70, at North County High.

The game was fast paced and close all the way, with Arundel answering every time it looked like Old Mill would pull away.

It was the 12th title game played since the county final was instituted in 1996. Annapolis and Southern were co-champions in 2003 when snow canceled the game.

Arundel (18-5) was making its first appearance in the championship game last night, and Old Mill was making its third after winning back-to-back titles in 2005 and 2006. Broadneck was last year's champion, beating Annapolis, 61-60 .

In winning their third county title in four years, the Patriots (21-2) made seven of eight free throws in the final 1:19.

Brandon Riley, who tied Arundel's Jordan Benson for game-high scoring honors with 20 points, hit his third free throw in the stretch with 36 seconds left to give his team a 73-68 lead, and the Patriots held on.

Marvin Pinkney added a free throw to make it 74-70 with eight seconds left.

"Marvin's free throw was huge and sealed it for us," said Patriots coach Greg Smith, whose team was 7-for-17 on foul shots in the first half, but shot 50 percent from the field (15-for-30) to take a 37-31 halftime lead.

"It's hard to believe you could miss that many free throws and still win. ... It was horrendous. I really don't have an answer. Defensive pressure at the end won the game for us."

Other leading scorers for Old Mill were Chris Day and Deonte Puller with 17 and 14 points, respectively.

Mandel Brown had 16 points with 12 rebounds for the Wildcats, and Auraum Nuiriankh scored 13 points.

Girls

No. 3 Arundel 78, No. 11 Old Mill 51 --Sophomore Sherrone Vails scored a career-high 30 points and grabbed 15 rebounds to lead the Wildcats (18-5) to their sixth consecutive county title, the fifth straight via the championship game.

Arundel started the streak in 2003 as a co-champion with Severna Park when the final was snowed out.

In the 13 years since the championship game began, Arundel has won it all but two times.

It was the third straight year that Arundel defeated Old Mill (19-4) in the final. The Wildcats won, 66-52, last year.

"What can I say? The kids came to play tonight and I'm really proud of them," Arundel coach Lee Rogers said.

Junior Simone Egwu, who had 17 points, said: "Counties is a big deal for us and Old Mill is a rival. This gets us pumped for the [state] playoffs."

Ciarra Lucas (16) and Aleah Queen (11) combined to score 27 points for Old Mill.

pat.omalley@baltsun.com