The Potomac Highlands Dispatch - the online newspaper

Top-ranked Spartans fall victim to Miners' slow-it-down offense, lose 43-37
* Tyler Whitaker tallies 18 points, Daniel Strietbeck 14 points in win
* Bishop Walsh limited to just two field goals in second quarter

By Kevin Spradlin
The Potomac Highlands Dispatch
FROSTBURG, Feb. 11 -- The 26th President of the United States is famous for his slogan, "speak softly and carry a big stick."

Members of the Mountain Ridge boys basketball team and coaching staff sure aren't talking much. And while the Miners aren't helping to build a Panama Canal, negotiate a war's end or winning the Nobel Peace Prize as Teddy Roosevelt did, but they sure are gaining attention at the local level.

The Miners pulled off another upset Friday night, limiting top-ranked Bishop Walsh to just two field goals in the second quarter en route to a 43-37 AMAC win.

Tyler Whitaker pretty much owned the fourth quarter - the 5-foot, 11-inch junior scored nine of his 18 points in the final period - and hit the eventual game-winning free throws with 50.9 seconds left on the clock.

Bishop Walsh, which took back the No. 1 spot in the PhDispatch.com Weekly Power Rankings primarily because of the Miners' first win over then-No. 1 Southern Garrett, led 28-27 entering the fourth quarter.

Mountain Ridge coach Dave Hobel had used his final timeout midway through the third quarter. And the Spartans, who had been limited to only 17 points in first half, had finally scored in double figures as a team in the third period, which seemed to indicate BW had, to a degree, found its offense.

No such luck. If high school basketball kept an NFL-style time-of-possession clock, the arrow would point in favor of the Miners, who are bound to move up in the weekly rankings when Week 9 is released on Feb. 12. Even when the Spartans had a shot, it seemed it was either ill-advised or hurried to make up for Mountain Ridge's slow-it-down spread offense.

Cody Sindy scored a bucket to open the fourth quarter and give the Miners a 29-28 lead. Whitaker hit two free throws about a minute later for a 31-28 lead and cap a 15-6 run that began midway through the third quarter.

Sophomore Quincy Redmon grabbed an offensive rebound - he did a lot of that on Friday - and scored the layup for the Spartans but Whitaker, who finished the night 11-for-14 from the foul line, made two more free throws to keep it a three-point game.

Pat Jones's jumper tied the game 33-33 with two minutes and 58 seconds left to play. Whitaker struck again - big - just 15 seconds later by hitting a 3-pointer from the right side. Though still a 3-point game, the number of possessions for Bishop Walsh was known to be limited as well as it was known the Miners would take as much time off the clock as they could on each of their remaining touches.

Redmon went to the foul line and was successful on two attempts with 2:23 to play. But on consecutive possessions afterward, Kammarri Powell was tagged with his fourth and fifth fouls - the latter put Whitaker to the foul line for what turned out to be the deciding shot.

Eleven seconds later, Redmon had tacked on two more fouls - numbers four and five on the night - and also was forcded to sit the bench. The Miners' Montana Bradley was cool, calm and collected at the line and was successful on all four tries to close out the home team's scoring.

From the start, though, it looked as if Bishop Walsh might run away with the game. The Spartans jumped out to a 6-0 lead and the Miners looked dazed and, in short, less than impressive.

Patience and perseverance paid handsomely, however. The Miners scored the next six points and trailed just 8-6 after the first quarter. Whatever Mountain Ridge had gotten right to close out the first period, the Miners continued into the second. They scored the quarter's first seven points and led 13-8 - including a two field goals by Daniel Strietbeck and a layup from Whitaker.

Greg Hendershot tipped in a missed field goal attempt by Redmon (10 rebounds) and Jones (13 points, six rebounds) hit two free throws to pull within 13-12, but Whitaker hit his next two attempts from the charity stripe for a 15-12 lead with 3:52 to go in the first half.