SALISBURY, MD - The 42nd annual Governor’s Challenge tipped off Thursday a full day of action spread across five locations.

Here’s a look at some of the top stories from Opening Day:

With his team trailing 66-65 with eight seconds remaining in a frenetic game against Seaford (DE), Snow Hill (Md.) 2025 forward Kameron Lucas stepped to the free throw line with a chance to put his team in front.

The foul line hadn’t been a comfortable place for him up to that point, as he'd gone just 1-for-5 in his previous trips. This time, though, Lucas calmly drained both to give his team a lead they wouldn’t relinquish as the Eagles capped a 21-point rally with a 68-66 win over the Blue Jays.

“I just had to knock them down,” Lucas said. “I wasn’t hitting free throws the whole game, and I knew I had to come through for the team and just knock ‘em down.”

Lucas finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds while Demar Brunson had a game-high 24 for Snow Hill and Keandre Nixon 14.

After a tight opening quarter - Seaford led 17-16 - the Blue Jays began to pull away in the second, outscoring the Eagles 27-13 to take a 44-29 halftime lead. They twice extended their lead to 20-plus.

“We just had to play with more energy in the second half,” Brunson said. “In the first half we came out slow and we couldn’t score - they were up 15 at halftime. We knew we were the better team, so we just had to come back.”

Snow Hill made its move in the third quarter, outscoring Seaford 22-11, and kept that energy up in the fourth. Their largest lead was just two points, but they took it when it mattered most. After Brunson hit a free throw to give them that two-point cushion, the Eagles survived a deep 3-point look by Seaford’s Vincent Evans III to pull out the victory.

“It shows we can do anything and we can come back from anything,” Lucas said. “We were down, like, 20-something. We shut their best player [Evans] down in the whole second half, we only had two points. We can do whatever want, we’ve just to got to go hard in the first half and go how we did in the second.”

Az’Juan Matthews had 20 for Seaford, while Jordan Smith had 16 and Evans finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds.

In a matchup of two teams that fell just short in their respective state championship games last season, Spring Mills (WV) set the tone early and never looked back.

2025 forward Caleb Thomas and 2026 guard Akwasi Opoku Achampong combined for 50 points as the Cardinals ran past Whitman (Md.), 84-53 in a Bracket #2 opener at the Wicomico Youth & Civic Center.

Thomas finished with a game-high 27 points on 8-of-11 shooting including a perfect 4-for-4 from 3-point range while also grabbing 13 rebounds and dishing out nine assists. Opoku Achampong had 23 points and connected on seven shots from deep, including six in a scorching hot third quarter.

“'Energy, effort, defend, rebound, run,' that’s what we want to preach,” Spring Mills coach Luke Samples said. “They lost in the state championship of 4A Maryland last year, and we lost in the state championship in West Virginia 4A last year, so it meant something to us and I think our kids played hard. Our football state championship was not this Saturday, but the Saturday before, so we have a bunch of football guys [working back in]. So it's good to see our team jell together  and start playing well together. I think our defense and rebounding fell off a little bit in the second quarter, and then when we picked it up we were fine.”

The Cardinals are no strangers to competition, often making a point of seeking out tough foes.

“During the summer we got to a whole bunch of different places,” Thomas said. “We go to NC Live, Virginia Live, we played in the Capitol Hoops Summer League in Maryland, so we’re kind of used to adjusting to the type of teams we’re playing.”

Samples said some of his team’s matchups have included Garfield Heights (OH) and 2026 star Ohio State commit Marcus Johnson, as well as a Bullis (Md.) group stacked with Division I prospects. He’s also taken his squad to team camps at Akron and Kent State. 

“It keeps us sharp year-round, and every single night we’re never going to be shocked,” he said. “[Eric] Reibe from Bullis is going to UConn, and we weren’t scared of him and he’s really, really good - I think we lost by seven points. So when you play that level of competition all year-round, it just becomes natural and our guys truly believe they're going to win every game. I’m a little nervous sometimes, but they never are.”

Hayden Walsh and Titian DeRosa had 8 points apiece to lead the the Vikings.

It took a quarter for Southern Maryland Christian Academy to settle into its opening matchup against Salisbury School, but once the Mustangs figured it out, the rout was on.

SMCA led 17-12 after one quarter, but used a 27-7 second quarter run to blow the game open on the way to an 83-35 win at the Wicomico Youth & Civic Center.

“The key was just sticking together as a team,” SMCA 2027 guard Corey Hughley said. “We practice every day, day in and day out, and coach [Hillary Haley] is hard on us, but the reason why he’s hard on us is so we can have results like that out on the floor. We just never let our foot off the gas and we played as a team, and that was the biggest thing.”

Hughley had 17 points on 6-of-11 shooting including 4-of-7 from 3-points range to lead the Mustangs, while Chase Purvis had 14 points, Aaron McGlone 13 and Johnie Griffin III and Ja’Zeyere Thompson 12 apiece.

The win was SMCA’s first at the Governor’s Challenge under Haley, a former University of Maryland-Eastern Shore standout who regularly attended the event as an assistant coach at St. Charles (Md.) 

“I always tell people this is the best holiday tournament on the East Coast,” Haley said. “Every year it's great talent from top to bottom, every bracket is loaded, and this is how you test yourself, you know? You test yourself by coming out here and competing against teams from all over. Any chance we can get to come out here and do that, we will.”

For The Salisbury School, Xavier Stratton had a team-high 15 points while Masen Brittingham had 11 points and 10 rebounds.

2025 guard Haki Muhammad had 26 points and 2026 wing Uriah Augare-Deal 19 points and 14 rebounds to lead the Tigers to a 69-53 win over St. Paul's (Md.).

St. Paul’s jumped out to a 14-13 lead after one quarter, but the Tigers took control in the second and never trailed again.

Auguare-Deal and Muhammad both said that unfamiliarity with their opponent was not a factor on Thursday.

“It’s just basketball at the end of the day,” Auguare-Deal said, “so you’ve just got to adjust to it as quick as you can, especially when the whistle starts because you don’t get time to really adjust. Once you start the game, you’ve just got to go, go, go.”

With the win, the Tigers advance to face Southern Maryland Christian on Friday in the Bracket #1 Final.

“I feel like everything’s coming together,” Muhammad said of his team’s season. “We’re meshing as a team, we’re playing as a group and we’re staying locked down on the defensive end, so I feel like we’re just going to keep getting better and better every single game."

Cahron Wheeler had 14 points to lead St. Paul's.

After watching his team struggle to connect from the field while scoring just five first-quarter points in their Governor’s Challenge opener against Germantown Academy (Pa.), Archbishop Carroll (DC) coach Malcolm Battle had a simple message for his squad.

“'Keep shooting, they’ll go down,'” Battle recalled. “Just keep [the game] close; I don’t think they can play at this level of pressure for an entire game. You’re going to have to have probably multiple ball handlers for the amount of pressure you’re going to see. I’m never worried about that.”

The Lions rewarded their coaches faith, flipping the game with their defensive pressure to create easy buckets en route to a 74-48 victory.

“We just had to have the mindset to keep shooting,” 2026 guard Anthony Brown, Jr. said. “Don't worry about the last shot and just be ready for the next one. … We have a lot of great guys but I feel like me putting the ball in the hoop helps open it up for everybody else. Last year I probably would have gotten down on myself or probably gotten a  little bit frustrated, but I know I just had to keep shooting. I mean, I work out too hard not to keep shooting.”

Germantown Academy led 9-5 after one quarter, but Carroll outscored them 25-13 in the second to take a 30-22 lead at the break and never relented.

Brown had 17 points and 5 assists to lead Carroll, who got a strong 14-point, 6-rebound outing from Evans Barning and 10 points from Truth Kelly.

Tyler Nolan had 13 points to lead Germantown Academy.

Severn School (Md.) found itself in a battle with a tough and physical Curtis (NY) group, but made just enough plays down the stretch to pull out a 67-65 overtime victory.

New University of Chicago commit Jacob Randall had a game-high 27 points and went 5-of-7 from 3-point range to lead the Admirals, who got 23 points and 7 rebounds from Sean Harvey and a stellar 9-assist, zero turnover outing from point guard Daniel Growney.

“I want to make plays for us,” Randall said. “I obviously don’t want to, you know, force stuff, but I felt like the game was coming to me today - I had an efficient 27. So anytime I can score a lot while being efficient I’m really happy to do that. It resulted in a win, so that’s really all I care about.”

2026 forward Alonzo Archbold was impressive in the defeat, posting 17 points, 10 rebounds and 7 blocks, including one at the end of regulation to force overtime. Ty Ray Spencer also had 17 and 10 for Curtis, while Makhiye Washington finished with 10 points.

Lake Taylor (Va.) 2026 forward Jaccari Jones posted 18 points and 11 rebounds to lead his team to a 59-51 win over Frederick (Md.) in the nightcap at Salisbury University. … Polytech (DE) dropped its opener to Colonel Richardson (MD) 66-49 despite a strong outing from 2026 forward Brian Walker. Walker scored over half of his team’s points, going for 27 on 13-of-16 shooting in a 66-49 loss. Makiah Batson and Ja’Zir Dickerson had 18 apiece to lead the Colonels, who used a strong third quarter to pull away. … Milford (DE) 2026 forward Elijah Farrington had 27 points and 22 rebounds in a tough 75-72 win over  Pocomoke (Md.). … Shreyas Vaidya hit six 3-pointers in a 24-point performance as George C. Marshall (Va.) downed Oakdale (Md.) 57-41. Anderson Kristko was a force inside for the Statesmen, posting 18 points and 14 rebounds. … JM Bennett (Md.) 2025 standout guard Zakai Smullen posted 23 points in his team’s 64-52 win over Laurel (DE), while Jayden Colon added 18 points and 11 rebounds. … After falling behind 18-12 after one quarter, Edmondson-Westside (Md.) outscored Arundel (Md.) 30-9 in the second to take control in a 78-59 win at Salisbury University. NaShawn Wiliams led the Red Storm with 16 points., while DJ Dantzler had 14.