By KATHERINE FOMINYKH | Kfominykh@baltsun.com
PUBLISHED: March 5, 2024 at 9:49 p.m. | UPDATED: March 8, 2024 at 12:19 p.m.

Meade boys basketball’s third region title in a row had to begin with junior varsity.

Most of the boys grinning with three fingers in the air, passing a plaque won by fending off Old Mill, 56-49, hardly touched the ball the previous two finals. Even those who started Tuesday, like junior Lucaya Baldridge and Jaisean Kenner, filed in behind five seniors, didn’t take on the heaviest burdens like they do now. The Mustangs graduated another four seniors, 90% of their offense.

And yet Meade — which picked four juniors and a freshman to lead them this time — returned to the Class 4A state tournament as naturally as the seasons change. As the fifth seed, it’ll face either Bowie, Walt Whitman or Frederick on the road Friday, depending on the results of Wednesday’s coin flip.

“It’s a credit to our JV program, and what Dave [McNeill] and Tommie [Duvall] have done developing these kids, so when they come up as varsity players, we’re not missing a beat,” Meade coach Mike Glick said. “To accomplish what we did with such a young team, to me, is just really rewarding.”

Glick, a student of the late Morgan Wootten, always preaches to his players to “win the right game.” When Old Mill dropped the Mustangs on their own senior night two weeks ago, 61-55, they reminded themselves which mattered — and which didn’t. They lost the last two games. And, of course, they won the next two. The Mustangs followed the same pattern last year. It journeyed to the state championship game.

“We came to kill,” Baldridge said. “We came 100%. We came to put the work in because they got us last time, and we didn’t want to go out as the team that could have been. We’re going to continue our story — and hopefully that gets us to states.”

Baldridge understood those two previous region titles more than almost anyone in Meade colors Tuesday. His length and skill steered the defense both early, when the Mustangs grappled for footing, and later, when it worked in passionate unison.

He played with his hands up as much as he could, but fouled out anyway midway through the fourth quarter.

“And became the biggest cheerleader I could be,” Baldridge said, smiling. “I already knew my teammates had me. Nothing changed.”

When it flushed up-court, the Mustangs let Old Mill chase them. They knew once they hit the double-bonus, the ball needed to find freshman Keon Scott (17 points), who’d lure unsuspecting Patriots to the whistle.

Meade’s Keon Scott shoots in the third quarter of Tuesday’s regional final against Old Mill. (Paul W. Gillespie/photo)
Meade’s Keon Scott shoots in the third quarter of Tuesday’s regional final against Old Mill. (Paul W. Gillespie/photo)

“He’s our best free-throw shooter. And, we’ve matured as a team. Losing Lucaya hurts, but,” Glick said, “we’re a versatile team. We put Kofi Mensah and James Johnson in on the defensive end, Zamar Jones on the offense. And I just couldn’t be prouder of how they handled it.”

It’s that sort of growth that encourages Glick.

“We feel like we have unfinished business. It doesn’t matter if we’re a young team,” the coach said. “We’ve been there. I just can’t wait to see who we’re gonna play. It’ll be different being on the road for the Elite Eight, but we’re playing our best basketball right now — and we’re bought in.”

As the first quarter clock ticked, region final jitters shook off for Old Mill first, allowing them — led by Brian Poore — to take the first-quarter lead. Two ties followed three early lead changes.

It took just a brief respite at 14-10, enough for the quarter to end, the band to play, and the Mustangs to huddle — and let the games really begin.

“We’re an experienced team. We’ve been here. We played a bad first half against Crofton [last round], and we responded. We’ve responded all year long,” Glick said. “We’ve taken our losses, but we responded.

“We just talked energy — and playing to the next play.”

Meade’s Kofi Mensah, center, is fouled by Old Mill’s Luke Fletcher, left, as he goes for the basket in the fourth quarter. The Meade Mustangs defeated the visiting Old Mill Patriots, 56-49, to win the boys 4A East Basketball Finals. (Paul W. Gillespie/Staff photo)
Meade’s Kofi Mensah, center, is fouled by Old Mill’s Luke Fletcher, left, as he goes to the basket in the fourth quarter. (Paul W. Gillespie/Staff photo)
Meade’s arms and legs clocked overtime; a block was punched, not tapped, an assist hurled, not passed, a basket battled for repeatedly until it sunk. Mustangs did not run full speed across the hardwood to eviscerate Old Mill attempts, so much so that even when coach Greg Smith called timeout on a 6-0 run, it just continued on the other side.

It’s not that Old Mill turned over the ball more — it was doing that before. But now, Meade wasn’t.

By the time senior Luke Fletcher mustered a jumper for the Patriots, Meade teetered on a 10-point lead — which Johnson then secured moments later, 29-18.

Come the third quarter, Old Mill’s Jordan Penn hit two 3-pointers, chipped back. But the Patriots’ movements — kick in the middle, then kick to the perimeter — were more than trackable for Meade.

“Then most of the time, it’d just be a shot,” junior Ashton Turman said. “We stayed off the high post and stayed playing the 3s.”

Scott, one of Meade’s leading scorers by the third quarter, suffered his third foul just after Baldridge did. Old Mill chipped away.

Even when Scott and Baldridge suffered third and fourth fouls, they didn’t protect themselves by riding the bench, and Meade did not relinquish control. Turman and Mensah pushed a double-digit gap again, 43-34.

“That’s just the Meade High way,” Baldridge said. “We never give up.”

Meade used up as much clock as it could, both to drain Old Mill of comeback time and to draw it into fouls.

With so little time to work with, the Patriots — Poore, Jahson Moreau, Penn — cut the lead to 47-41. And Josh Holmes, Kenner, Jones, Mensah and Scott all hit back.

“We have a lot of depth,” Turman said. “Teams can’t go box-and-one on us like we do them because we have so many threats.

“We just chew the clock out. And go four low.”

Meade— 10-21-12-13 — 56

Old Mill — 14-7-13-15 — 49

ME: Scott 17, Turman 11, Mensah 7, Baldridge 6, Kenner 5, Johnson 5, Holmes 3, Jones 2

OM: Poore 16, Penn 8, Moreau 8, Fletcher 5, Halloway 4, Simms 4, Daugherty 4