Prince George's Men's Basketball Season And Seven Players Owl Careers Ends At The NJCAA Division III District VII Championship Game

ROCKVILLE, Md. – Prince George's Community College hopes of participating in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division III Men's Basketball Championships were thwarted on Sunday. Just like all season, the Owls played a hard-fought game in the NJCAA Division III District VII Championship Game against Montgomery in an 85-71 loss to end the season.

Gus Stone (Baltimore, Md./North County) ended his season the way it began with a 20-point performance. The sophomore went 8-for-19 from the floor, 3 of 5 from behind the arc and 1 of 2 from the charity stripe while also adding eight rebounds, two assists, two blocks and one steal. Stone finished his career with 41 games with 10+ points and 23 games with at least 20 points including two 30-point performances. In his two seasons (2015-16, 2017-18), Stone finished with 871 points, 174 rebounds, 108 assists, 44 steals and 14 blocks.

Kennith Ford (Forestville, Md./National Collegiate) also finished the game with 20 points thanks to 7-for-15 shooting from the floor and 6 of 7 from the free throw line while also adding five rebounds. Ford also finished his career in Largo with 41 double figure games in points including seven 20-point performances. He also tallied three double-doubles this season. Ford ends his career with 739 points, 226 rebounds, 63 assists, 59 steals and 18 blocks.

Mykal Johnson (Seat Pleasant, Md./Charles H. Flowers) finished with 16 points, eight rebounds, four steals and three assists while James Hagins (Roanoke, Va./William Fleming) registered 11 rebounds, four blocks and two points in his final game in an Owl uniform.

Johnson registered double figures in points in 55 of 61 games in his career. He reached 20 points 24 times in his career and also has three 30-point games on his resume. The sophomore also has eight double-doubles and a triple-double to his credit. Johnson, who reached the 1,000-point mark in the NJCAA Division III Region XX semifinals against Westmoreland County Community College on Feb. 23, ends his two years with Prince George's with 1,047 points, 298 rebounds, 146 assists, 58 steals and nine blocks.

Hagins notched double figures in points 13 times in his two years in Largo including two 20-point games. On the boards, the sophomore reached double figures 14 times and eight double-doubles. The sophomore ends his career with 302 points, 305 rebounds, 79 blocks, 10 assists and eight steals.

Prince George's took the advantage in the first half and maintained the lead through halftime and at the start of the second half before Montgomery made a run and never looked back to deny the Owls the chance for their first district title since 2008.

After a seesaw start to the game, the Largo program used a 10-0 run to erase a 12-10 deficit and turn it into a 20-12 advantage midway through the first half. Stone scored six of the 10 points in the spurt.

The Raptors rallied to tie the game at 20 only to see the Owls answer with the next eight points to grab a 28-20 lead with 4:42 left in the opening frame. Stone and Johnson each drained triples and Hagins scored in the lane for the eight-point outburst. Montgomery answered to close the gap going into the locker room to 34-30.

Coming out of the break, Montgomery came back to tie the game at 36. Prince George's had another answer with an 8-0 run to take a 44-36 lead with 15:13 left. Ford took the keys for this spurt with six of the eight points in this stretch.

The Raptors would then answer to take the edge, but the Owls tied the game at 46 and 49-all. Montgomery then scored the next five points with the game tied at 49 for a 54-49 lead with 11:57 left.

Stone cut the margin to 54-52 on a trey with 10:58 left and Ford make it a 3-point game on a jumper with 10:18 left, but a 7-2 run by Montgomery gave the hosts a 64-56 lead with 7:50 on the clock.

Prince George's was able to trim the deficit to 66-62 with 5:21 left after a pair of free throws by Shiloh Beale (Waldorf, Md./St. Charles), but four-straight points by Montgomery and the Owls could get no closer the rest of the way.

Ford, Hagins, Johnson and Stone each played two years at Prince George's. The game also marked the end of their junior college careers for Paul Golder (Laurel, Md./Laurel), Tavon Ngangum (Silver Spring, Md./Springbrook) and Brian Ferguson (Olney, Md./James H. Blake), who each donned the Owls uniform for one season.

Prince George's finished the year 17-14 and head coach Brian Johnson is 37-23 in his two seasons in Largo with NJCAA Division III Region XX Championship Game appearances in both seasons and an NJCAA Division III District VII Championship Game appearance to go along with the Maryland Junior College Athletic Conference Tournament title from last year.