Prince George's Drops Hard-Fought Rivalry Tilt With Montgomery, 83-78

ROCKVILLE, Md. Prince George's Community College is edged by Montgomery 83-78 In National Junior College Athletic Conference (NJCAA) Division III Region XX and Maryland Junior College Athletic Conference (MD JUCO) men's basketball action on Wednesday.

Mykal Johnson (Seat Pleasant, Md./Charles H. Flowers) paced the Owls (10-5, 2-3 MD JUCO) with 22 points. Johnson shot 8-for-18 from the floor, 3 of 6 from behind the arc and 3 of 4 from the free throw line to notch his sixth 20-point game of the season. The sophomore has posted double figures in 14 of the 15 games this season. He added seven rebounds, four assists and one steal

Gus Stone (Baltimore, Md./North County) recorded 20 points and Kennith Ford (Forrestville, Md./National Collegiate Prep) registered 18 points while James Hagins (Roanoke, Va./William H. Fleming) hauled in 12 rebounds in the loss.

Trailing 78-76 with 2:17 left in the game, Prince George's went 1 of 3 at the free throw line with the chance to tie to cut the margin to 78-77 while Montgomery connected on 5 of 8 from the charity stripe to seal the 83-78 victory.

Prince George's scored the first eight points of the game and 18 of the first 25 in the first five minutes and six seconds to grab an 18-7 lead. Stone fueled the spurt with seven points,

Montgomery used a 21-8 run to take its first lead at 28-26 with 5:26 left in the first half. The Owls then scored eight unanswered points thanks to a Beale traditional 3-point play, a Ford layup and a Johnson triple to give the Largo program a 34-28 lead with 4:11 on the clock. The Raptors closed the first half on a 14-5 run to go into the locker room with a 42-39 edge.

After Montgomery extended its lead to 44-39 to start the second half, the Owls went on a 9-3 run to take a 48-47 lead thanks to four points from Ford and three from Stone. 

The Raptors took another five-point edge only to see the Owls go on a 10-4 run to grab a 60-59 lead with 9:41 left. Ford was the catalyst for this run with six points.

With the score tied at 66, Montgomery scored the next five points to grab another five-point advantage and Prince George's was able to tie the game at 76 after a Hagins dunk with 2:33 left. The Raptors answered with what proved to be the decisive basket 16 seconds later en route to the 83-78 win.

Shiloh Beale (Waldorf, Md./St. Charles) registered seven points and six assists on the night.

Prince George's returns to action on Dec. 28 at St. Mary's JV. Tipoff is 6 p.m.