For Marriotts Ridge's B.J. Durham, it was the perfect capper to a career night.
With the score tied at 56 Friday against Mt. Hebron, the senior guard dribbled down court and hit a floater in the lane with 22 seconds left for what ended up being the deciding basket in a 58-56 Mustang victory.
Durham ended up with 23 points, as Marriotts Ridge picked up its seventh straight win.
"The (winning) play was actually set up to get it to D.J. (Tucker), but it wasn't there and I saw an opening and I took it," Durham said. "I had confidence that I could make that shot. After the way I started tonight, I felt like everything was going in."
Durham had gotten going with five points in the first three minutes and that seemed to spark him. By the time all was said and done he had made five threes and, with the help of Tucker (10 points, 12 rebounds), helped the Mustangs survive a game where the their leading scorer Arjun Patel (19.0 ppg) was held scoreless.
"This is what a team feels like," Marriotts Ridge coach Mike Coughlan said. "To have, in my opinion, one of the best players in the county have zero points and for us to still find a way to win, that's what a team does. These guys stick together."
Things were nip-and-tuck from the get go.
Marriotts Ridge jumped out to a 7-4 lead, then Mt. Hebron answered back with a 13-4 run to go ahead 17-11. The second quarter saw seven lead changes before Mt. Hebron headed into the break up 30-29.
A 3-point shooting barrage by Marriotts Ridge to start the third quarter briefly opened up a nine-point Mustang lead. Durham, Robert Davis and Ryan Miller combined for five triples to make it 44-35.
But again, Mt. Hebron didn't go down without a fight. The Vikings put together a 16-6 run between the end of the third quarter and beginning of the fourth to retake the lead, 51-50.
Over the next four minutes, leading up to Durham's game-winner, the lead changed hands three more times.
Following the floater by Durham, Mt. Hebron raced down court and Deonte Moses (13 points) attempted a lay-up. His shot, however, came up short and caromed into the hands of Tucker, who advanced the ball to Davis to run out most of the remaining clock.
Of its eight wins on the season, Marriotts Ridge has won four of them now by four points or less.
"Once you find a way to win, you are going to keep finding ways to win and you can see that happening with this group," Coughlan said. "The kids never get down … we stay in it and finish out games."
In the loss, Mt. Hebron got huge nights from Herb Jenkins (14 points, 10 rebounds) and Malik Gilmore (14 points, 6 rebounds). It just wasn't quite enough for the Vikings to avoid their third straight defeat.
Marriotts Ridge 58, Mt. Hebron 56
MR (7-1, 9-1): Durham 23, Tucker 10, Harrison 8, Davis 7, Kratochwill 5, Miller 3, Menker 2.
MH (4-4, 5-4): Gilmore 14, Jenkins 14, Moses 13, Woodard 8, Mohilchock 5, Dohner 2.
Half: 30-29 MH.