They overcame deficits of 10 and 11 points, but there was one thing that the CCBC Catonsville men's basketball team could not overcome in Wednesday's contest against Howard Community College–a season-high 34 turnovers.

Those turnovers proved to be costly, as the Dragons won 87-82 in overtime over the Cardinals in a Maryland Junior College Athletic Conference match-up.

Catonsville coach Randy Gregory said that turnovers have been an ongoing problem, but against Howard Community College (HCC) it became a major problem. "We've averaged 22 turnovers a game this season," Gregory said. "We practically had that many in the first half."

Even with the turnovers, Gregory said his team was in a position to win. "We dug ourselves a hole and fought our way back," he said. "When we got down it became a question of 'Do you fight or do you quit?' They decided to fight."

The Cardinals (3-9) led 76-74 with 1:29 to play in regulation. They went ahead on a layup by 6-foot-8 center George Johnson, who led all scorers with 24 points on his way to a triple-double for the game (he had 15 rebounds and 10 blocked shots).

Then, with 1:15 to play, HCC's Quante Newton converted a jumper, tying it up at 76-76. The Dragons would miss four shots in the final 28 seconds, including one at the buzzer, to send the contest into overtime.

In overtime, the Cardinals jumped out to a quick 78-76 lead on two foul shots by guard Marlin Robinson. The freshman put up 17 points on the night, second only to Johnson's output. But that would be the last basket for the Cardinals until Johnson scored with 19.6 seconds left.

HCC (6-6, 3-2) went ahead for good on a layup by Marques Jeter, followed by two baskets in close from guard Will Arthur.

Arthur's second score came on a spin move in the lane that put the Dragons up by five, 84-79 with 37 seconds to play.

The Cardinals would cut it to 84-80 on a foul shot by Mark Evans. But two foul shots by Newton and another free-throw following Johnson's basket provided the final margin.

Dragons coach Howard Edison said he was pleased with the way his team handled themselves at the end, citing the efforts of Arthur and Newton. "I told Arthur to be ready coming off the bench, and he came through," Edison said. "Newton just did a great job taking care of the ball."

Edison noted that Catonsville gave his team a little trouble in the early going. "Their match-up zone kept us from getting the ball inside," he said. "Fortunately, we were able to hit some jumpers from around the key."

HCC freshman Angelo Adon did most of the damage with 14 first-half points, including two 3-pointers.

The Dragons were up by 11 with 1:55 to play in the first half, but the Cardinals cut it to six on a basket by Johnson and a 3-pointer at the buzzer by sophomore Malik Edwards.

More than six minutes into the second half, the Cardinals would once again find themselves trailing by double digits. This time it was by 10 points, 56-46.

But Catonsville rallied and went on an 11-0 run on baskets by four different players.

The Cardinals would eventually go up by three, 71-68 with 7:38 remaining but turnovers and mistakes kept them from pulling away.

"We're playing with a lot of freshmen and we're still getting used to each other," Johnson said. "But it's the turnovers that we have to work on."