Big Run To Close Game Fuels Prince George's Men's Basketball Past Westmoreland County 82-65 And Into NJCAA Region XX Title Game

ROCKVILLE, Md. - A 32-15 run to close out the final 10 minutes of the game powered Prince George's past Westmoreland County 82-65 in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division III Region XX Men's Basketball Semifinals on Saturday at the MC-Rockville Gymnasium on the Rockville campus of Montgomery College.

Kennith Ford (Forestville, Md.) paced the Owls with 17 points, including 10 points in the first five minutes of the game. Alex Morales (Patterson, N.J.) added 16 points off the bench while James Hagins (Roanoke, Va.) tallied 12 points and 11 rebounds and Kenneth Pettaway (Bowie, Md.) chipped in 12 points in the winning effort.

With the win, Prince George's moves onto the championship game on Sunday and will face top-seed and host Montgomery at 4 p.m. The Raptors advanced to the title game with a 92-77 win against CC of Allegheny County-Allegheny in the other semifinals. The Owls will be looking for their fourth straight and seventh overall Region XX crown.

Daniel King led the Wolfpack (14-13) with 23 points on seven 3-pointers, but was held in check during the decisive run. Glen Owen added 11 points while Jordan Johnson and Rodderick Barney each posted 10 points in the loss.

After a first half full of runs, it was Prince George's second half run that powered the squad to the victory and back into the title bout.

The Owls closed the game on a 32-15 run, but the spurt was keyed by scoring 13 of 14 points with the game tied midway through the second half. Prince Obike (Landover, Md.) started the run with a layup at 10:11 before Pettaway converted two charity tosses with 9:32 left and Jaylin Johnson (Detroit, Mich.) made 1 of 2 at the line with 8:54 on the clock. After Pettaway slamed home a basket with 8:37 remaining, Jordan Johnson made the front end of two free throws at 8:26 for the only Wolfpack points during this stretch. Hagins then added a jumper at 7:59 and Obike and Johnson each made 1 of 2 at the free throw line. Hagins scored in the lane to cap the run and give Prince George's a 63-51 lead with seven minutes left. Westmoreland County cut it to eight points on a couple of occassions, but the Owls closed the game on a 15-6 run to move onto the championship game against Montgomery on Sunday.

The first half was a frame full of runs. Prince George's opened the game with a 14-2 spurt sparked by 10 points by Ford in the first six minutes of the game.

Westmoreland County answered with a 17-6 run thank was keyed by five treys to give the third seed a 19-16 advantage with 8:28 on the clock. King was the catalyst in the run with 12 points.

The Wolfpack run was answered with a 13-2 spurt by the Owls to regain the lead at 29-21 with 5:17 on the clock. Morales sparked the team with eight points.

Westmoreland closed the first half on a 17-2 run to go into the locker room with a 38-31 advantage. The Wolfpack used four 3-pointers in the spurt to take the lead, including Mullen draining a triple as time expired in the stanza.

With the Wolfpack holding a 43-36 lead with 17:59 after a King trey, Prince George's went on a 9-0 run sparked by three dunks by Hagins to take a 45-43 lead. The two teams then traded the lead before the Owls closed the game on a big run to earn the victory.