Wootton Rolls Over RM to Reach Regional Semis

Exactly five minutes into Tuesday night's home playoff game, Wootton Coach Chris Bohlen was visibly frustrated on the Patriots' sideline, questioning his team's shot selection as they failed to find a rhythm offensively. With his team trailing by one point and having made just one field goal, the sixth-year coach called a timeout and calmed his team down.

Following the quick break, his team responded immediately and closed out the quarter on an 8-2 run. The fourth-seeded Patriots never trailed again and dominated the visiting Richard Montgomery Rockets en route to a 64-51 win before a spirited crowd at Wootton High School.

"This group this season has been funny. We're still trying to figure out as a group what makes them tick," Bohlen said. "Sometimes the boys need to be shaken up every now and then and be reminded about what kinds of shots we want to take, what we're looking for and I needed to call a timeout there to get them focused a little. When we execute I think we're pretty good."

With the win, the Patriots (15-9) move on to the Maryland 4A West Regional semifinals for the first time in Bohlen's tenure and will face the top-seeded Magruder Colonels on Thursday night. Magruder defeated Quince Orchard, 59-37, Tuesday.

"This is huge," Bohlen said. "We're really looking forward to the challenge and hopefully we'll get a good crowd out there to support us. This is what it's all about -- getting a chance to take on the No. 1 team in the state. So, we'll see what happens."

After leading 12-6 after the first quarter, Wootton held on to a 14-12 lead with 6:08 remaining in the second quarter when senior guard Willis Ibeh made his first basket of the game to put the Patriots up, 16-12, with 4:46 left. The rest of the half belonged to Ibeh. On Wootton's next possession, Ibeh hit the first 3-pointer of the game then followed it up with a break-away layup to give Wootton its biggest lead of the game, 21-12, with 3:35 remaining in the first half. 

The Patriots earned their first double-digit lead of the night, 27-17, when Ibeh hit his second of two free throw attempts with 47 seconds remaining. Wootton headed into the break up eight, 27-19, and Ibeh's performance in the first half helped fuel the Patriots for the rest of the night. Afterwards, his coach reflected on his play.

"He's definitely a rhythm kind of guy, but once he's dialed in, he's very, very talented," Bohlen said. "And he's going to be a big weapon for us as we move forward."

In the second half, Wootton picked up where it had left off and Ibeh's 3-pointer with 2:40 remaining in the third quarter gave the Patriots a 42-23 lead before Brad Sternberg's 3-pointer with 20 seconds left in the quarter gave Wootton its first 20-point lead of the night, 47-27.

Wootton led by as much as 23 and the closest Richard Montgomery could get was within 12 points with 1:45 remaining in the game.

"I think we did a nice job of handling their pressure," Bohlen said. "We knew they were going to come after us there and we knew they weren't just going to lay down for us and they made it a game there in the fourth quarter. But our kids stepped up and made their foul shots and hit a few easy buckets when we had to."

Ibeh led all scorers with 19 and finished with three 3-pointers. Eddie Tsao also finished with a 3-pointer and added 15 points while Sternberg finished with 8 points.

After the game, Ibeh was pleased with the win, but kept his emotions in check as he knows there is still work to be done.

"I'm really glad we got the win but we got Magruder on Thursday," Ibeh said. "We've got to come out really strong tomorrow in practice and work hard and stay focused for the task at hand. I'm excited about the win tonight but we've got some work to do and we got to bring it on Thursday for sure."

Richard Montgomery's Justin Senou, who Bohlen called among the best players in the county, finished with 18 points in the losing effort for the Rockets (10-14). Richard Montgomery closed the season losing 9 of its last 11 games.