When his team needed someone to make a play down the stretch, St. Andrew’s Episcopal (Md.) 2024 wing Miles Franklin responded.

The Columbia University commit scored the go-ahead bucket for the Lions with 40 seconds remaining, and then came up with a steal and fastbreak dunk on the ensuing possession to seal the deal as St. Andrew’s rallied from nine points down in the fourth quarter to pick up a 56-53 win over Don Bosco Prep (NJ).

“We’ve just had trouble closing out games, and I felt extra motivated to close it out,” Franklin said of the dunk. “I saw him throw the loft pass and I went and got it and finished it. I was like, ‘I better not miss this.’”

Franklin finished with 26 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists for St. Andrew’s, while RJ Roche had 12 and Damon Nelson added 10.

“It feels great,” Franklin said of the win, “especially in the fashion that we won with everybody playing hard and everybody contributing - people coming off the bench making big plays. It's big for our program and it's big for our morale and all that kind of stuff going into conference play in the new year.”

The Lions needed every bit of production they could get to counter a 32-point barrage from Don Bosco 2025 guard Brady Loughlin, who is headed to Brown University.

Don Bosco built a 27-18 lead at the break and held St. Andrew’s at bay for much of the second. The Lions slowly chipped away, however, and put themselves in position to go to Franklin for the lead in the final minute.

“The message was ‘one possession at a time, defensively and offensively,’” SAES coach Kevin Jones said. “We were able to grind the lead down, and when we were down one, we knew we were going to Miles down the stretch and the kids executed it. It’s a set that we hadn't run - we’d run some similar action but it was a different set - so the defense was raised high and we were able to get it to him down low. I know his teammates were telling him to shoot the ball and he was going to be on somebody one-on-one. There’s nobody else we want having the ball right there.” 

Franklin said he felt ready to deliver when called upon.

“We run a couple of plays to get looks in the post for me to to try and get into peoples’ chests," he said. "So all game, coach was telling me to get into them and then go up. So we went into the timeout, drew up a play, and I was confident I knew what I was going to do, so I gave the ball, I saw the switch, sealed and just went up with it and trusted myself.”

With the win, the Lions advance to face Archbishop Spalding in the Bracket #8 final on Saturday.

“It was really gutsy from our guys to just keep grinding and competing,” Jones said. “I’m extremely proud of them because we’ve lost three games this year - two in overtime - where we’d been leading in all those games with a minute or so to play, so to execute and find our way back, I’m just proud of the group.”

Fairmont Heights (Md.) aims to run its opponents ragged with a high-octane attack on both ends of the floor, and on Friday they executed to perfection.

The Hornets jumped out to an early lead and pulled away from Carver Vo Tech (Md.) 69-55 to claim the Bracket #4 Championship at the Wicomico Youth & Civic Center.

2026 forward David Priester had 19 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Hornets, while 2025 guard Devonte Dyson had 12 points and 5 assists and 2025 guard Amari Brice-Johnson had 8 points, 5 assists and 7 steals.

“One thing our coach always tells us is just play fast,” Priester said. “We’ve got to push the pace - we know that we’re supposed to be a quote-unquote ‘track team,’ so we were just playing faster than the other team, getting to the cup at will and making the game easier for ourselves rather than forcing shots and making it hard.”

Fairmont Height built a 22-point lead at the half after harassing Carver into nearly as many turnovers (19) as total points (22). Priester had 15 points and 7 boards at the break.

“I just  made sure I ate good last night, prepared well this morning and made sure I had the right energy to just get up and down the court, beat the other team down the court and get easy looks at the basket,” he said.

Hornets coach Jonathan Blackmon said “running” was the key to his team’s strong start Friday.

“That’s what we preach,” Blackmon said. “We say we want to be a track team with the basketball, just hitting the corners and getting the rim runs and sharing the ball. I think we got, like, eight points off layups early, which is a tribute to our shooting - everyone knows we’re a good outside shooting team, so they kind of run out at shooters and we are able to get by them to the rim.”

For the Hornets, the trip to the Governor’s Challenge served as a good way to close out the year as they look ahead to conference play. They advanced to the final after beating Linganore (Md.) 56-51 at Salisbury University on Thursday.

“Just getting the invite is big for us,” Blackmon said. “And then to come down and play against two good teams is great. We’ve been preparing just to play better and this kind of brought it out of us. The last game before we got here, we just didn’t look like ourselves, so we were just trying to get back to playing our brand of ball.”

Kaiden Matthews had 15 points and David Ross 10 for the Bears.

As one of the premier public school teams in the DMV, the South Lakes Seahawks are used to getting every team’s best shot.

So when Baltimore City College (Md.) came out firing early, the defending Virginia Class 6 State Champions never got rattled.

Michigan State commit Jordan Scott had 25 points and 10 rebounds and Merrick Rillstone had 22 points as South Lakes (Va.) picked up an 82-69 win over City despite an explosive 43-point outing from Black Knights star guard Omarr Smith.

“I think it’s been a little bit different than last year just because we don’t have the same people as last year,” Scott said of his team’s approach to being the hunted. “But we still have that target on our back, and some of the guys that weren’t here last year inherited that target. Every game I think is going to be a Super Bowl game, I think, for everybody that wants to play us, especially some of the DMV teams. We played them a few years ago and we beat them in overtime, so we knew this game was going to be a bit of a dogfight. It was in the beginning, and then I thought we separated ourselves.”

South Lakes led 35-27 at the break, and outscored City 25-13 in the third quarter to effectively put the game out of reach.

The New Mexico State-bound Smith tried his best to cut into the deficit, posting 31 of his 43 points in the second half to single-handedly carry the City offense. Smith finished the game 16-of-23 from the field and 5-of-10 from 3-point range, and was just one point shy of tying the Governor’s Challenge single-game scoring record of 44 points set by Harford Christian’s Derreck Orr in 2017.

By then the damage had been done, though - primarily by Scott, who gave the City defense issues all game with his inside-out versatility.

“Coach [Mike] Desmond has been telling me to be more aggressive and more selfish [offensively],” he said. “So I think I’ve been trying to pick that up over the last few games especially, and kind of look for my own shot.”

The 6-foot-7, 200-pound Rillstone served as the perfect complement to Scott, going 10-of-13 from the field.

“It’s hard coming into a different role - it’s been hard for everyone,” Rillstone said. “It’s kind of just having confidence in myself and my coaching staff has confidence in me and my teammates have confidence in me. So I’m just continuing to build confidence with every game.”

Toshi Elston had 10 points and 8 assists for South Lakes, while Jake Burnett had 9 points.

The Seahawks advance to face Dover (DE) in a bracket final on Saturday. Regardless of the outcome, Desmond said this year’s Governor’s Challenge trip will serve as another important test as his team seeks a state title repeat.

“These games count on your record, but it's just the experience [that is more important] because we’re playing such different types of teams,” he said. “There are some teams that are athletic and strong that we see, but not consistently.  So going back-to-back, you want these kind of - I don't want to say ‘tune-up games,’ because you don’t want to downplay the teams because we’re probably a tune-up for them, too - but you want to get pushed throughout your December schedule.”

“Sometimes when you lose a game or have a close game or whatever, it exposes the flaws that coaches have been talking about, and it forces the kids to listen. So coming to this tournament, you’re playing top-notch teams, and you can easily win a game by 15 or take an ‘L’ by 15, and it's OK either way, because you’re playing such great competition.”

Severn School (Md.) 2025 guard Jacob Randall continued his strong play this week, posting 26 points and 9 rebounds as the Admirals held off Archbishop Carroll 63-60 to claim the Bracket #3 Championship at Salisbury University.

Randall - who had 27 points while going 5-of-7 from 3-point range in a 67-65 overtime win over Curtis (NY) on Thursday - finished 4-of-5 from deep on Friday.

2026 guard Sean Harvey added 13 points for the Admirals.

2026 guard Anthony Brown, Jr. had a game-high 27 points for the Lions, who got 13 from 2027 guard Ashton Graves.

As the two-time defending Maryland Class 1A State Champions, the Edmondson-Westside Red Storm are used to winning, so no matter who the opponent is, the approach is the same.

“Pretty much our mindset is we’re going to treat all of our opponents as if we’re trying to win,” 2025 guard DJ Dantzler said. “We’re going to do whatever we need to do to get the win, so that’s pretty much our mindset going into every game.”

That approach was on display as Edmondson picked up a 63-53 win over a tough Lake Taylor (Va.) team in the Bracket #6 final at the Wicomico Youth & Civic Center. The win improved the Red Storm to 7-0 on the season.

Dantzler had 22 points and 6 assists to lead the Red Storm, while NaShawn Williams had 12 points, Xavier Davis 11 and Marcus Stepney 10.

“We came out here and we just wanted to keep the Baltimore name going - that Baltimore always has the toughest teams,” Dantzler said. “So getting this win pretty much gives us confidence to keep going and motivates us."

Jaccari Jones had 21 points and 13 rebounds for the Titans, while Montonio Flowers had 11 points and seven boards.

Something about a holiday tournament seems to appeal to the Bethesda-Chevy Chase (Md.) Barons.

B-CC continued its Christmas Break success with another victory, winning the Bracket 5 Championship with a 57-40 win over Appoquinimink (DE).

“The break is a good time to focus on basketball,” B-CC coach Sean Tracey said. “There’s no school to worry about, it's time with family and friends. And it's always good to get away and it's a good time for team bonding. I was telling the guys this is our third holiday tournament in a row that we’ve won, so we really take this time to really just work on little things and X’s and 0’s and try to get guys reps that don’t normally don't get reps in, which we were able to do in that first game. But this was a good two days for us.”

The Barons trailed 22-20 at the half, but turned the tide in the second, outscoring Appoquinimink 37-18 after the break.

The win was a team effort, as B-CC got key contributions from several players. Lucas Allen led Barons with 14 points while Cameron Rothstein-Epps and Tim Byrd had 12 and Jack Allen added 9 and 13 boards. 

“[That depth is] big, because we’ve got guys that can shoot the ball well, but every night it's hit or miss,” Tracey said. “You don’t always shoot the ball well, so that’s why we say that our defense has to travel. The shots may not be falling - they happened to fall tonight. In a bigger arena without that wall behind which we’re used to playing with in high school. I told them that depth perception may throw our shots off, but luckily we came out hitting shots. Our defense is what won it for us, though.”

Riley Buzby and Desai Drummond had 10 points apiece for Appoqunimink.

After losing several key pieces from the team that finished as runners-up in the MIAA A and Baltimore Catholic League tournament last season, Archbishop Spalding (Md.) has turned to several young players to fill those roles this winter.

On Friday that crew looked like seasoned veterans.

Juniors Colt Busse (22 points), TJ Moultrie (17) and Kam Carter (10) - who saw varsity time as sophomores a season ago - all scored in double-figures, and touted freshman big man Braxton Bogard posted 15 points and 11 rebounds as the Cavaliers cruised to an 80-59 win over Imani Christian (Pa.) in their Bracket #8 opener.

“I have very high hopes; the sky's the limit,” Busse said of his team’s potential. “Braxton coming in as a freshman, we’re asking him to do a lot, but he’s done nothing but great things. And everybody’s buying in - guys have been hurt and everybody’s stepping up. If we keep that winning mentality and ‘next man up’ mentality, then I don’t think anybody can beat us.”

Spalding led 19-17 after one quarter but seized control in the second, outscoring Imani Christian 25-11.

“We just had to take advantage of the advantages,” Bogard said. “We went to a zone - they couldn’t score on the zone. We had size, they didn’t. We’re a smart team, so we just kind of picked them apart and found out what they couldn’t mess with, and we did that.”

The 6-foot-8, 200-pound Bogard came into his freshman season with high expectations and has continued to impress with his size, athleticism and feel for the game.

“I feel like [my strengths are] being my age and my size and being able to do what I do,” he said. “I’m pretty tall and pretty big which is already pretty hard to guard, and then I can still dribble, shoot and open the floor and I play good defense, too. And I’m a good athlete, so on the defensive side, if somebody drives I can always be there to at least help and alter the shot most of the time.”

Spalding advances to play St. Andrew’s Episcopal in an all-Maryland bracket championship on Saturday, while Imani Christian will mee Don Bosco Prep (NJ) in the consolation game.

RJ Sledge had 20 points, Markus WIlliams 13 and Kieshaun Demus 10 for the Saints.

After last year’s spectacular Governor’s Challenge finale between Stephen Decatur (Md.) and Dover (DE) - a 53-52 Decatur win punctuated by a steal and emphatic dunk just after the final buzzer by the Seahawks’ Careen Bolden - Friday’s rematch was among the most anticipated matchups of this year’s event.

Dover coach Stephen Wilson knew exactly how much people were looking forward to it, in fact.

“I got a lot of calls on my phone, a lot of anonymous emails and text messages about the dunk and everything else,” Wilson said. “A lot of our older guys called back about things they heard Stephen Decatur said, and our rivals Caesar Rodney, so everybody wants us to lose. But I thought the key to tonight was physicality and rebounding. I thought that we needed to control [Decatur guard Davin]Chandler and I thought we did that in the second half. Then I thought we controlled the boards and we were physical.”

JayVion Denis scored a game-high 25 points to lead the Senators, who got 11 points from Kameron Randolph and 9 points and 9 rebounds from Chase Little.

Dover led at the half and after three quarters, and went up by as many as nine in the fourth quarter before Decatur rallied to make it interesting. In the end, though, Dover closed out the victory.

“We know that’s a very good team, and we needed to come back and avenge our loss last year,” Wilson said, “but we also know we controlled the game last year, too. The dunk didn’t count and at the end of the game some things that happened, happened, but we controlled that game. We lost two games in nine seconds last year, so in my mind I think about that, but not the kids. I thought that we answered the challenge. We need to get better and there’s things we need to work on, but we made free throws and executed at the end. [Decatur] is a very good basketball team and they're going to win a lot of games, so that’s going to be a huge win for us.”

Chandler finished with 24 points and 8 rebounds to lead Decatur, while Noah Tucker finished with 16 and 7 boards.

It was a successful return to the Shore for Westtown (Pa.) 2027 guard Marshall Bailey, as the former Easton (Md.) star won the JoJo’s Family Restaurant 3-Point Contest, netting 20 of a possible 30 points in the final round. St. Mary’s (Md.) 2026 guard Bailey Harris won the girls’ competition. … Freedom (Va.) 2025 guard Keilana Johnson and City (Md.) 2025 guard Damon Rowlette won the respective girls and boys titles in the Cedric Armwood Skills Challenge. … New Hope (Md.) 2025 guard Haki Muhammad had 29 points to lead the Tigers to a 71-70 win over Southern Maryland Christian in the Bracket #1 Championship game at Salisbury University. … Germantown Academy (Pa.) 2025 guard Tyler Nolan poured in 32 points in a 72-45 consolation win over Curtis (NY). The Haverford College (Pa.) commit finished 12-of-20 from the field, including 6-of-10 from 3-point range. … Largo (Md.) had four players score in double figures - headlined by 32 from Michigan State-bound star 2024 wing Cam Ward  - in an opening 81-62 win over IMG Academy Gold (Fla.). … Stephon Ashley-Wright had 22 points as Neumann-Goretti downed Jackson-Reed(DC) 64-56 in a highly-anticipated Elite Showcase matchup. UMass-Lowell commit JJ Massaquoi had 24 points and 12 rebounds for the Tigers. ... St. Mary's-Ryken (Md.) guard Derrick Robinson had 27 points as the Knights edged Archbishop Molloy (NY), 76-71.