For Hammond, Monday's season opener against Old Mill was the classic good news, bad news scenario.
The good news was that James Turner had a breakout night. The senior guard, who didn't play last season, exploded for a game-high 29 points and 12 rebounds.
The bad news, however, was that Turner's big game wasn't enough to prevent the Golden Bears from dropping a 73-57 decision against the Patriots.
Led by Brian Hinton (18 points), Old Mill built a nine-point lead by halftime and then methodically increased that advantage the rest of the way.
Turner's impressive debut, which included all 13 of the Bears' points in the third quarter, kept things interesting until the middle of the fourth quarter when a 8-0 Patriots spurt opened up a 21-point lead.
"James brought the intensity and effort we know he's capable of and now the key is finding two or three more guys to go with that," Hammond coach Karl Friedheim said. "And I believe we have them, it's just a matter of fine tuning a couple things and figuring out everyone's roles. We learned some good lessons tonight."
To go along with Turner, Hammond also got nine points apiece from Brian Green and Duane Echols in the losing effort.
The Bears actually had the lead early, scoring the first five points of the game, but never led after the midway point of the first quarter. A basket by Green that made it 21-17 early in the second quarter was as close as Hammond got over the final 24 minutes.
Old Mill 73, Hammond 57
OM (1-0): Hinton 18, Salmond 12, Fullilove 11, Jackson 10, Ball 8, Faulcon 5, Savage 5, Baker 4.
Ha (0-1): Turner 29, Green 9, Echols 9, Whitlock 3, Lashley 3, Blackwell 2, Hendrick 2.
Half: 35-26 OM.
Other scores:
Long Reach 57, High Point 49
Getting contributions from a number of different players, the Lightning overcame a five-point halftime deficit to emerge victorious in their season opener. Darryl Taylor (11 points) and Devaughn Nowlin (10) led the way, but there were five other players with at least four points.
"Our bench was definitely huge for us tonight," said Long Reach coach Al Moraz Jr., noting a particularly strong effort from center Larry Nwankwo (9 points, 6 rebounds).
In the fourth quarter, as it pulled away, Long Reach hit 7 of 10 from the foul line. Nwankwo, himself, was 3-3 from the stripe in the final eight minutes.
Kevin Betters did his part off the bench with a pair of foul shots and a drawn charge in the fourth quarter, while Taylor knocked down a big three down the stretch as well.
"After losing by 20 to them last year, this was an important game," Moraz said. "Anytime you can beat a 4A school, it's a big win."
LR (1-0): Allmond 9, Betters 4, Brown 7, Hargrove 5, Leconte 2, Nowlin 10, Nwankwo 9, Taylor 11.
HP (0-1): Nelson 2, Tyler 15, Coker 4, Minah 6, Jackson 5, Ajenifuja 15, King 2.
Half: 27-22 HP.
Owings Mills 89, Oakland Mills 57
OwiM (1-0): Wilson 33, Jenkins 15, Lloyd 13, R. Johnson 8, Mercer 7, Coit 4, Eher 4, J. Johnson 3, Barnett 2.
OakM (0-1): Manns 25, N. Zayatz 11, Tapscott 9, Dent 6, Bradley 2, Madden-Stricker 2, Huewe 2.
Half: 39-22 Owings Mills.
Mt. Hebron 68, Dulaney 59
MH (1-0): Mohilchock 22, Moses 21, Woodward 12, Gilmore 9, Shade 4.
D (0-1): Darley 17, Mock-Myers 13, Scanlan 11, Conway 7, Hill 7, Lawson 4.
Half: 37-17 MH.
Atholton 56, Aberdeen 54
Gavin Stephenson led the way with 25 points, while Brian McMahon chipped in with 12 points and 10 rebounds, as the Raiders won their season opener on the road.
Dematha 77, Glenelg Country 48 (Saturday)
D (1-0): Grant 18, Bell 17, Anya 10, Lyles 9, Robinson 8, Taylor 5, Kelley 4, Howard 3, Ruffin 3.
GC (3-1): Boyd 20, Barnard 10, Powers 6, Jove-Vives 5, Moune 4, Jones 3.
Half: 30-24 D.