On Thursday evening, the 23-1 James H. Blake Bengals faced off against the 22-3 Walt Whitman Vikings in the 4A boys basketball Maryland high school state championship. In the semifinal round, Whitman knocked off top-seeded Charles H. Flowers 69-62, while their opponents also pulled off a second-round upset, defeating Meade 66-64.
The two teams faced off in the Montgomery County championship game in late February, their only other meeting this season. Blake, without University of Maryland commit Baba Oladotun, took down the Vikings 67-55. After debuting in the semifinal game, Oladotun recognized the presence he has in the media, but explained that he tries to ignore it.
“People talked a lot all season with me not playing and they make their own stories,” Oladotun said. “I’ve been with these guys for three years now and the chemistry has become bigger than basketball. It means more than basketball.” Coming into the match, Blake head coach Brandon Howell had an opportunity to win a state title in his first year leading the team.
His team got off to a solid start, staying within two scores of Whitman in the first quarter. The Vikings had six different athletes find the net in the first eight minutes. On the other side, Oladotun dropped seven in the quarter off the bench, followed by five from senior Christian Kennard.
The second quarter opened in the Vikings’ favor, with Rowan Conroy scoring four points inside of 30 seconds to put his team back ahead, but in the final four and a half minutes, junior guard Max Williams was the only one to score for the Columbia blue, getting just one point on a free throw. Meanwhile, the Bengals were led by Tahj Martin, who dropped seven points in the quarter’s final four minutes. Eli Konkler’s points before the end of the quarter put the Bengals ahead 28-22 going into the break.
At halftime, Oladotun and Martin both had seven points, leading the blue and black, while Conroy’s seven points made him the leader for the Vikings.
Blake’s lead continued to grow throughout the third quarter. After Whitman made one free throw in the first minute, the Bengals went on a ten-point run, led by four from Kennard, putting his team up by 15 with just over 11 minutes to play. Whitman head coach Chris Lun was forced to use two full timeouts inside of 75 seconds, trying to slow the Blake offense. To round out the third, Max Williams scored four while Will Shapiro scored five, and by the end of the third, Blake held a 12-point lead.
The fourth quarter proved to be just as good for the Bengals. They had five separate athletes contribute to the scoreboard in a quarter that saw 16 points. Meanwhile, Whitman only managed 12, securing Blake’s first state championship in school history with a 60-44 final score.
14 Blake athletes saw time on the court in the title game, with four having double-digit point totals. They were led by Tahj Martin who scored 14 with six total rebounds. The state runner-up had 13 players record at least 30 seconds, led by junior Max Williams’s double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Despite the loss, Coach Lun was extremely proud of how his team’s season went.
“We’re obviously disappointed with the result,” Coach Lun said in a post-game interview. “This is the third year we’ve gotten here, and obviously can’t get over that hump. Doesn’t take away from everything else we’ve done.” Max Williams, who will be returning to next year’s roster, also knows the role he will take on looking to get back to the title game. “I have full confidence in the group we have next year… we have to take the offseason seriously and I have to step up as a leader and we will make it back,” Williams said.
Coach Howell, after winning the 4A title, was on cloud nine. “It still feels surreal, but it’s also a blessing,” he said. “From June in the hot sun running stairs and hills outside, we did things we’ve never done before to make sure we were in shape to play.” Senior Armani Fowlkes, who played almost 30 minutes in the championship contest, also recognized the significance of this marking the first title in school history. “It’s definitely a blessing… the three years before this we fell short in the same game. In our last year together, we had to come together and make a change. That’s what we did.”
