Players from the Chopticon High School boys basketball team gather on the floor at center court on Dec. 28 with the ceremonial plaque elevated after the Braves upended Leonardtown 61-42 to capture the two-holiday tournament that Chopticon hosted.
Players from the Chopticon High School boys basketball team gather on the floor at center court on Dec. 28 with the ceremonial plaque elevated after the Braves upended Leonardtown 61-42 to capture the two-holiday tournament that Chopticon hosted.
While watching its cross-county rival Leonardtown High School squad twice own an eight-point lead in the first half of the holiday tournament championship game that it was hosting, the Chopticon High School boys basketball team used a 15-0 run in the second quarter to forge a modest halftime lead en route to a comfortable 61-42 victory on Dec. 28 over the Raiders.
Chopticon (8-1) had nearly squandered a 20-point lead in the fourth quarter of Tuesday’s 57-55 victory over Calvert in the opening day of the two-day event when the Braves reserves allowed the Cavaliers to make things slightly uncomfortable for Chopticon coach Bradley Leydig. On the afternoon of Dec. 28, Leydig predictably waited until the final minute to empty his bench and this time the Braves coasted to victory over a county foe that had handed them its lone previous setback this season two weeks earlier.
“We were up by 20 points [Tuesday] when I decided we were up enough that I could get all of my subs into the game,” Leydig said. “So, [Wednesday] I wanted to wait just a while longer. It was nice to win this tournament, but we’re not done yet. I’m happy that we’re 8-1 right now, but we have a tough stretch of games coming up and we’re not done yet.”
Leonardtown (5-1) had defeated Patuxent one day earlier and the Raiders bid to remain undefeated got under way to a promising start when they twice owned eight-point leads in the first half, the second at 17-9 in the opening minute of the second quarter. But Leonardtown endured a prolonged drought over the next four minutes as the Braves countered with a 15-0 run for a lead it would never surrender.
Chopticon reversed the course of the contest with buckets inside from Kanye McMahon, Jordan Pernell and Elijah Farmer. During a sloppy first quarter it which they committed as many turnovers as points they scored, the Braves countered by scoring points off turnovers in the second quarter. Pernell, who was later tabbed as the tournament Most Valuable Player, scored seven of his 17 points in the pivotal second quarter.
“I think we all started to get motivated after their dunk,” Pernell said, referring to a basket from Leonardtown’s Aaron Green in the first quarter that staked the Raiders to a 12-4 lead. “We knew we had to come back right away. Really, it came down to just playing as a team. We did not play well in the first quarter, but the second quarter showed what we can do.”
In the middle stages of the first quarter and into the early portion of the second, Leonardtown had vaulted to a quick start behind Green, Matthew Rafter, Cameron Roberson and Trenton Hoyt. But after the Braves forged their first lead of the outing at 19-17 on a pair of free throws from McMahon with 4:12 remaining in the first half, the Raiders never regained the advantage.
Chopticon used a late surge in the second quarter to claim a 31-24 halftime advantage and the Braves ended the third quarter on a 5-0 run for a 46-32 lead heading to the fourth. Leonardtown got to within 12 points briefly late in the fourth, but the Braves countered with a 9-0 run for a 61-40 lead, its biggest of the contest, with less than a minute remaining.
