Stukes 33 Points Not Enough In Semis

COLLEGE PARK, MARYLAND -- One side of the Comcast Center was filled with fans from Chopticon High School from Morganza on Maryland's Eastern Shore. The other side, reserved for rooters for the Baltimore Sun's number one squad, Randallstown, had more empty seats. At halftime, one local scout observed that perhaps the missing folks were waiting for the expected matchup on Saturday with Friendly High School for the Class 3A Maryland State Championship. If so, those folks were only partially correct.

Friendly will be there but not the Rams as Chopticon came back from as many as nine down in the fourth quarter to gain a 73-70 overtime win and a berth in the finals.

Chopticon was led by senior guard T.J. Carter's 27 points and 12 boards. Towson bound Jonathan Pease also had 12 rebounds along with 19 points while T.J.'s cousin, Charles Carter, a 6-5 junior, chipped in 10 points. The outstanding play of the Rams' Levi Stukes wasn't enough though he surely gave a superb effort while scoring a game-high 33 points. Terrence Breaux, who along with brother Tommy is headed to Buffalo on a football scholarship, added 17 for the Baltimore County champions.

In a tightly played first quarter, Randallstown grabbed the first lead of more than two points when Jahmel Raymond found Terrence Breaux in the paint for a layup. Stukes' three pointer from the left wing upped the opening quarter lead to 15-8 with the senior scoring nine of the Rams' first quarter points.

The Eastern Shore team scored the first seven points of the second quarter to tie the game at 15-15 with 5:29 left in the half. Stukes hit a jumper sliding across the key to give the Rams the lead, 17-15. T.J. Carter answered with his first basket of the game, knotting the score again at 17. Pease scored the next five points for the Braves on a foul shot, a breakway as he grabbed a press-shattering long pass and a 17-foot jumper. With the score, 22-19, Stukes hit a three again securing a tie at 22. This was Stukes' 16th pont. A traditional three point play by Thomas Breaux gave Randallstown the halftime lead of 25-22.

The Rams pulled away to a 12 point lead at 45-33 with less than two minutes to play in the third stanza. But the Braves wouldn't let the game get away, using a 9-2 run to tighten the deficit to 47-42. T.J., who had been limited to nine points to that point, dribbled at the top of the key as time was running out in the period and then calmly hit a jump shot, the ball bouncing under the basket as the tenths of the last second ticked off the clock. "The play was set up for one of our forwards to break open." Carter said. "When that didn't happen, I just needed to put it up."

Again riding on the scoring of Levi Stukes, the Rams extended their lead to 53-44 only to see the Braves perform another 8-0 run to get within one as T.J. Carter stole the ball and took it the hole for a layup and a foul and the score 53-52. Randallstown's head Coach Kim Rivers called a timeout, a positive move since Carter missed the free throw atempt.

A cuting Stukes canned a layup to put the Rams back up three, 55-52. Two T.J. Carter free throws put the Braves within one at 55-54. Thomas Breaux's basket upped the Rams lead to 57-54. T.J. went back to the line at 0:29.2 and made both free throws for his 18th point and a 57-56 score. Following a couple missed shots, Chopticon needed to make their first substitution of the game when Terrell Reeves picked up an offensive foul, his fifth of the game, with 14.7 seconds left. That brought Lance Williams, an undersized center, off the bench. Stukes was fouled on the ensuing inbound pass and made both ends of the one-and-one, giving the Rams a 59-56 lead. Others may have been overwhelmed at the point against such a highly regarded opponent. Chopticon wasn't. T.J. Carter brought the ball up the court and hit a three from above the key to tie the score at 59 with 2.9 seconds left in regulation. Torian Dean's toss from beyond half court bounced off the rim to force the overtime.

T.J. Carter drove for a layup and hit the added free throw giving Chopticon the first overtime lead of 62-59 at 3:38. Stukes made one of two free throws to bring the margin down to 62-60. Jahmel Raymond's layup tied the game at 62-62 but he missed his attempt for a three-point play. With Chopticon up 64-62, T.J. was hit on his knee as he drove into the key. After a full timeout, Carter limped to the foul line in obvious pain yet made both attempts to extend the Braves lead to 66-62 with 2:01 left in the extra period. After one of two free throws by Raymond tightened the margin to 66-63, Thomas Carter found himself open for a 15 foot jump shot from the left wing to increase the margin to 68-63. Terrence Breaux completed a dunk while being fouled and made the free throw to bring the mark to 69-66.

Needing to foul, the Rams put the reserve Williams on the line. He made one of two, extending the lead to 70-66 with 41.2 seconds remaining. Stukes, fouled on the putback of his own miss reduced the lead to 70-67 at 28.9. Then on the Rams' next offensive set, he slashed for the score and a one point 70-69 deficit with 14.5 seconds left. The Braves' Charles Carter and the Rams' Torian Deane each made one of two free throw attempts which kept the margin at one, 71-70, and the ball to the Braves. Chopticon, with 3.7 seconds on the clock, got a long pass over the Randallstown press to Pease, who dribbled away from defenders until he was finally fouled with the clock showing 0:00.4. Two successful free throws sealed the win at 73-70.

A subdued Coach Rivers said, "Chopticon just played a little harder. T.J. worked for everything he got." As for his senior, Levi Stukes, Rivers had loads of praise. "Levi's the only four year letterman I've ever had. He always plays hard. He plays for the love of the game."

The Braves, who made it to the semifinals last season, will be facing Friendly High School, 71-51 winners over Blake, on Saturday at 6 p.m. at the Comcast Center.