After 14-1 Start, Patapsco Drops Second Straight

Leading by two after the first quarter, and by one at half, the Patapsco boys were undone Friday night by their own miscues, as well as Woodlawn’s red-hot Devin Wynn in the second half of a premier Baltimore County matchup.

Normally a tough, pressing team, Patapsco was undone by Woodlawn’s backcourt pressure, on several occasions failing to inbounds the ball, leading directly to Woodlawn buckets. Each time the Patriots took one step forward in the fourth quarter, trying to rally from a seven-point deficit after three quarters – it seemed they took two steps backward.

Woodlawn, now 13-6 overall, won 73-61, led by  Wynn's 34 points. The Woodlawn shooting guard scored 26 second-half points, including thre  3-pointers in the third quarter.

“Devin is very athletic, a senior, and he came to play in the second half,” Woodlawn coach Eric Smiley-Lee said.

Patapsco was led offensively by junior guard Devin James, who scored 19 points, forward Rowland Hailey, who scored a quiet 13 points (none in the second half), junior center Aaron Phillips, with 12 points, and senior guard Gary Fayall, with eight points. Forward Greg Spriggs chipped in with six points.

“We didn’t capitalize on offense and when Rowland got into foul trouble in the second half, that hurt,” said James.  “They’re also faster than a lot of teams we play. Maybe the fastest.”

The Patriots competed to the last second of the contest, despite every loose ball seemingly going to Woodlawn. They also had an off night shooting inside and at the free throw line, where they missed roughly half of their attempts.

“They’re very gutty, hard-working and competitive,” Smiley-Lee said.  “We knew we had to watch No. 21 (James) and No. 33 (Hailey). I felt like we did a good job with them.”

Thursday, the Patriots fell to Baltimore County power Milford Mill, 83-46, as they were without the services of three players, including key reserve Julian Allen and Phillips – their strongest inside presence.

Allen, coach Will Marshall said, is no longer with the team. Phillips and another reserve, Cam Massey, served one-game suspensions against Milford Mill.

The Patriots said they weren’t down emotionally after the back-to-back losses to Milford Mill and Woodlawn, but determined to get back on track.

“Woodlawn beats most teams by 30-40 points,” James said. “This was close and wasn’t our best night. This is just going to be motivation.”

“I feel like this is going to make us hungry,” said Fayall, whose frustration was evident at times during the fourth quarter. “It makes you want to win the rest of the games that much more.”

Patapsco assistant coach Paul Latanishen said despite recent losses, the Patriots remain within reach of a 3A North playoff bye. Milford Mill, Parkville and North Harford are currently ahead of Patapsco, with the top four teams in the region receiving byes.

Patapsco still has Dulaney, Perry Hall, Parkville (Saturday), Dundalk (next Monday) and Kenwood left to play.

“Every game, I can’t say our kids don’t play hard – and they played hard until the last minute tonight,” Marshall said. “I'm not ready to talk about the playoffs,” he added. “We’ll look at that when the time comes.”