COLLEGE PARK — COLLEGE PARK --Parkville coach Rod Norris tells anyone who will listen how scrappy his young Knights are. Last night at the University of Maryland's Comcast Center, the Knights showed both how scrappy they were and how young they were.
Parkville (18-7) rallied from 10 points down in the second half, eventually tying Charles County's Thomas Stone (24-2) with 3:10 left, but could not get over the hump and fell, 73-64, in a Maryland Class 4A semifinal.
Junior Tom Cummings led the Knights with 16 points, while Brandon Carroll led Thomas Stone with 17 points and eight rebounds.
The Cougars will play Springbrook, a 49-41 winner in the other semifinal, tomorrow at 8.
"We showed how competitive we were, and how much we battle," Norris said. "We committed some key turnovers down the stretch. A couple of breaks didn't go our way, and we got a little frustrated."
The Knights trailed 40-30 with 3:30 left in the third quarter, but got two three-pointers by Cummings and one each from Gabe Dell and Tim Wiggins to tie it at 47 with 7:48 left in the fourth.
Parkville, making its first trip to the state semifinals since 1987, was outscored 11-6 during the next 4:02 and trailed 58-53 with 3:46 left. Cummings was then fouled while attempting a three-pointer and made two free throws to cut the deficit to three.
On the next possession, Wiggins was fouled on a tip-in. After he converted the foul shot, the Knights were tied with 3:10 left.
Then the roof fell in. The Cougars took advantage of several Parkville turnovers while turning up their defensive pressure. Thomas Stone outscored Parkville 12-0 over the next 2:52 and led 71-58. Two three-pointers by Cummings, one at the final buzzer, accounted for the final margin.
"We knew we could come back, because we'd done it before," Cummings said. "Then, we got a little sloppy and committed some turnovers down the stretch. That turned the whole game around."
Thomas Stone coach Dale Lambeth credited Parkville's 2-1-2 zone with slowing down the Cougars and getting the Knights back in the game.
"It took us a while to see what [defense] they were in, and then to adjust to it," Lambeth said. "We kind of slacked off midway through the third quarter, and they took advantage of it."