Pocomoke Gains Maryland State Finals

COLLEGE PARK, MARYLAND -- Pocomoke High School (24-2) showed that living on Maryland's Eastern Shore isn't disadavantageous to their players' game as the Warriors topped South Hagerstown (24-2), 82-58, in the Maryland State 1A semifinals in Cole Field House on the University of Maryland's campus Friday afternoon.

Pocomoke grabbed an early lead that it proved unwilling to surrender. The Warriors next task is somewhat harder; they take on Baltimore's Dunbar High School in Saturday's first state final matchup at 1:00 p.m. at Cole.

All five starters for Pocomoke made their presence felt on the floor. The Warriors were led by Eddie Miller's game-high 23 points. TyRon Northam, who already broke the 1,000 point mark, added 19 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. JoVon Schofield also chipped in 19 points on 57.2 percent shooting from the floor (8-14) including a perfect 2-2 from behind the arc. Tony Tull picked off six steals (game-high) while dishing out five assists. And Gerry Laws grabbed five more steals. The Warriors were tough on both ends of the floor, shooting 54.4 percent while grabbing 15 steals of the Rebels 21 turnovers.

South Hagerstown was playing without senior point guard Domonique Richmond, a Maryland football signee, who was suspended on Monday after legal problems were reported. The Rebels were led by sophomore guard David Miner's 19 points along with Shannon Shuttle's 16 points. Minor also had three steals and Scott Barrish, who at 6-1 handles the post for the Rebels, helped his teammates with a game-high six assists.