Furious Comeback Attempt Falls Short For Prince George's Men's Basketball At Northern Virginia, 89-86

ANNANDALE, Va. –Prince George's Community furious comeback attempt falls short to Northern Virginia Community College 89-86 in non-conference men's basketball action on Monday.

Gus Stone (Baltimore, Md./North County) paced the Owls (13-7) with 28 points and eight rebounds. Stone shot 10-for-19 from the floor, 2 of 6 from the free throw line and 6 of 12 from the charity stripe. Stone, who has recorded 25 points or more five times in 2017-18, reached 20 points for the 13th time this season and the 20th time in his career. The sophomore had five points in the final 26 seconds with Prince George's trailing by six and trying to rally for the victory.

Kennith Ford (Forestville, Md./National Collegiate Prep) matched career highs in both points (26) and rebounds (10) for his second collegiate double-double. The sophomore also scored 26 points against Cecil College on Nov. 29 and hauled in 10 caroms against Butler County Community College on Nov. 17 when he notched his first double-double.  

Mykal Johnson (Seat Pleasant, Md./Charles H. Flowers) chipped in 14 points and 10 rebounds in the loss. Johnson, who also registered his first career double-double against Westmoreland County Community College on Nov. 18, has three double-doubles and a triple-double in his last four games after not posting a trick in his first 36 tilts.

The Owls fell behind by as many as 16 points before nearly rallying to come-from-behind for the victory only to fall just short against Northern Virginia.

After Prince George's cut the deficit to one point for the third time in the last three minutes at 67-66 on a Ford 3-pointer, the Nighthawks went on an 11-3 spurt to take a 78-69 lead with 4:06 remaining.

The Owls did not give up and cut the margin to 86-83 with 17 seconds left on a Johnson layup. Up by three points, Northern Virginia fouled to put the Largo program at the line with nine seconds left, but not with a chance to tie the score. Stone made the front end and the Nighthawks corralled the defensive rebound on the second charity toss. After two made free throws by the host, Stone made it a two-point game one more time at 88-86 with three seconds left but Prince George's could get no closer the rest of the way.

Northern Virginia scored 20 of the first 24 points in the first seven minutes and 16 seconds of the game. The Owls used a 19-9 run to cut the margin to 29-23 with 5:48 left in the first half. Shiloh Beale (Waldorf, Md./St. Charles) paced the spurt with five points.

Prince George's cut the margin to six points two more times in the stanza, but the Nighthawks went into the locker room with a 44-30 advantage.

Trailing 54-38 with 17:20 left, the Largo program went on a 20-6 run to make it a one-point game at 60-59 with 10:22 remaining in the tilt. Stone powered the surge with 11 points.

Prince George's trimmed the margin to one point two more times before Northern Virginia went on an 11-3 spurt to grab a 78-69 margin with 4:06 on the clock. 

With the Nighthawks holding an 80-71 lead, the Owls scored the next five points on a Stone trey and a Ford layup to cut the deficit to 80-76 with 2:08 left. The Owls made it a two-point game twice in the closing minutes, but could not get any closer.

Prince George's continues its busy week at Frederick Community College on Wednesday. Game time is 7 p.m.