Boys' Basketball: Oakland Mills' Whittington Wreaks Havoc on Atholton Raiders

Good teams win when they are supposed to, but great teams find ways to win even when they are not at full strength.

On Wednesday, Oakland Mills (7-0) would put that theory to the test against the Atholton Raiders (3-4).

The Scorpions were without their third-leading scorer, Kerry Bethea, who was held out of the game by head coach Jon Browne. The coach would not talk about specifics regarding the situation, but simply called the choice to bench Bethea "a coach's decision."

Without the junior forward in the mix, Oakland Mills would need someone to step up. And who else answered the call but the Scorpions' senior star, Greg Whittington.

The center had been hampered the last few games by a thumb injury he suffered early in Oakland Mills' 61-58 come-from-behind win at Centennial High School on Dec. 17.

But Whittington appeared to be at full strength Wednesday as he torched Atholton for 30 points, 14 rebounds and four blocks to carry the Scorpions past the Raiders, 63-43.

"Unfortunately for Atholton they just didn't have a body to match up with him," Browne said. "With Kerry on the bench tonight, Greg did a good job. He is hard to stop."

Whittington gave Atholton fits inside. The Raiders did not have the size to defend the 6-foot-9 center. Atholton tried to double-team and even triple-team Whittington every time he touched the ball, but that left the Scorpions' outside shooters wide open.

And they took advantage, hitting a season-high 6 three-pointers in the game.

But despite the team's success from beyond the arc, Browne was not happy with their shot selection.

"We settled for a lot of jump shots tonight," Browne said.

That is not Oakland Mills basketball.

The Scorpions like to work the ball inside to Whittington and Bethea, and if that does not work, then and only then do they kick the ball back out for the jump shot.

But Oakland Mills went away from their inside game too quickly against Atholton, taking unnecessary shots instead of driving to the basket.

Perhaps they missed the presence of Bethea in the low post. Or maybe the Scorpions just felt like shooting a little more. Either way, Browne was not pleased.

"We didn't execute very well," Browne said.

Though the Scorpions never trailed in the game, Browne believes this win was the worst game his team has played all season.

"All in all, it was a sloppy game," Browne said. "We were lethargic tonight. I'm not real happy with the play. I guess I'm happy with the score."

A 20-point victory is nothing to be upset about. But Browne knows his team can play better than they did. And that is what makes the coach mad.

Oakland Mills got off to a slow start offensively – scoring just 11 points in the opening quarter.

Luckily for the Scorpions, the Raiders took even longer to warm up. Atholton did not score a single point until junior forward Brian McMahon hit a shot five minutes into the game.

The Raiders managed just six points in the first quarter – one less than Whittington had.

Atholton had no answer for the big man early. Whittington scored seven of the Scorpions' 11 first-quarter points to give Oakland Mills the 11-6 lead.

The Scorpions would increase the pressure, starting the second quarter on a 14-6 run that included 2 three-pointers from junior guard Nick Zayatz. Whittington would add 12 more points as the Scorpions continued to roll, 29-19.

More impressively Whittington had matched the scoring output of the entire Atholton team in the first half. He dominated the first two quarters of the game with 19 points, nine rebounds and three blocks.

Unfortunately for the Raiders, not only did Whittington not cool off during halftime, but the rest of the Scorpions began to find their shots as well.

Atholton did score first coming out of the half, but Oakland Mills followed with a 13-0 run to extend their lead to 22 points, 42-20. During that run, Whittington contributed eight points, while senior guard James Peters was finally able to get on the board – going 1-2 from the foul line and hitting a big three.

The senior finished the game with nine points and four rebounds.

The Scorpions would outscore the Raiders 21-12 in the third quarter, bringing their lead to 50-31.

"We have been having good third quarters all year, and tonight was no exception," Browne said. "And that's where we have been winning all our ball games."

The coach attributes a lot of his team's second half offensive success to playing great defense.

"The defensive pressure gave us some easy buckets in transition," Browne said. "And that starts with Joe [Kiely]."

The coach was quick to acknowledge the defensive efforts of his senior point guard, who finished the game with 10 points, four rebounds, two blocks and two steals. Kiely plays relentless defense, which translates into easy baskets for him and his teammates.

"He is a spark for us," Browne said.

With Kiely and the rest of the Oakland Mills team finally beginning to play better as a unit, the Scorpions pulled even further away from the Raiders – extending their lead to as many as 23 points in the fourth quarter.

With the huge point discrepancy, Browne began to work some of his bench players into the game, getting players like sophomore guard Curtis Johnson (two points) and senior forward Malcolm James (four points, three rebounds) some valuable minutes.

Even with their backups in the game, Oakland Mills managed to outscore the Raiders 13-12 in the quarter to seal the 20-point victory.

The only real bright spot for the Raiders in this blowout loss was Atholton guard Jordan Wells. The senior finished with 26 points, going 7 of 13 from the field (including 3 of 4 on three-pointers) and 9 of 11 from the foul line. No other Atholton player scored double-digit points on the night.

With the loss, the Raiders fall to 3-5 ,while the Scorpions stay undefeated, winning their eighth game of the season.

"8-0 right now, and this is where I wanted to be at this point in the season," Browne said. "We are not playing our best basketball…and that's discouraging.

"But undefeated is undefeated."

Oakland Mills (63)

Whittington 30, Kiely 10, Peters 9,  Zayatz 6, Davis 4, Marcellus Ajiboye 2, Johnson 2

Atholton (43)

Wells 26, McMahon 5, Josh Martin 5, Darren Fitzpatrick 4, Austin Tennessee 2, Brett Haas 1