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Sports

Boys' Basketball: Glenelg Country Dragons Advance to Championship Game, Beat St. Vincent Pallotti

Glenelg Country's Isaiah Miles nearly recorded a triple-double with 31 points, 22 rebounds, and eight blocks as the Dragons cruised to their second round victory over the Panthers, 74-53.

One team beat Glenelg Country School in conference play this season. On Wednesday, that same team – St. Vincent Pallotti – stood between the Dragons and a spot in the championship game.

That earlier loss had come on Jan. 21. This time, they would meet in the second round of the MIAA B conference playoffs.

That left Glenelg Country with a lot to think about Wednesday, but one theme loomed largest – revenge.

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Behind the strong play of Isaiah Miles, the Dragons got their revenge. The junior forward put up monstrous numbers – 31 points, 22 rebounds and eight blocks – as Glenelg Country won in commanding fashion at home, 74-53.

“We have something to prove and I am not only talking about the last contest against Pallotti – I’m talking about what happened a year ago,” said Glenelg Country coach Kevin Quinlan.

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Last year the Dragons lost in the semifinals to St. Paul’s, 73-48, one game short of playing for the championship.

This year Glenelg Country has made it to that Promised Land under Quinlan, who is in his first year as the Dragons’ head coach.

“I don’t act like I have a chip on my shoulder, but I have a big old chip on my shoulder for them,” he said.

The Dragons wasted no time trying to make up for their playoff loss to St. Paul’s from last year, which came on Feb. 19, nearly 12 months to the day.

Glenelg Country started the game playing at a furious pace, opening the first quarter on a 12-0 run that started with six straight points from Miles.

“I just wanted to come back for some revenge,” said Miles, referring to that semifinal loss that still lingered in everyone’s minds. “I tried my best to make sure that didn’t happen this year.”

Miles finished the first quarter with 14 points, and the Dragons opened up a big lead early, 27-7.

Knowing the game was far from over – and sensing his team’s overly confident attitude with a 20-point lead – Quinlan began to preach to his bench.

“Stay focused,” he said over and over.

The Dragons listened.

Though they did not score 27 points in the second quarter, Glenelg Country continued to play solid basketball.

The Dragons deliberately slowed down the pace of the game, milking every bit of that early 20-point lead. But after the Panthers rattled off a 12-3 run to cut the lead to just 12 points, Glenelg Country once again picked up the pace.

Sophomore guard Kevin Boyd stopped the bleeding with a 3-pointer to extend the Dragons’ lead to 15 points. He finished the game with 11 points.

But after a pair of 3-pointers from Pallotti’s Tony Yancey cut the Glenelg Country lead to 11, Miles ended the half with a big three-point play to give the Dragons a little more breathing room.

“Isaiah was an animal,” Quinlan said.

Glenelg Country went into halftime up 14 points, 43-29.

The Panthers gained some ground in the first few minutes of the third quarter, outscoring the Dragons 5-3 to cut the gap to 11 points.

But then Miles once again found a way to spark the Glenelg Country offense.

With 4:58 remaining in the third, and with the Dragons looking for their first field goal of the second half, senior guard Ben Koffel threw up a transition pass to Miles.

Miles snagged the ball in midair and slammed it home, completing a monstrous alley-oop that helped spark a 13-3 run to end the quarter.

“That was one of the prettiest passes I have seen this year,” Quinlan said.

Glenelg Country entered the fourth quarter with all the momentum on their side. The Dragons were up by 22 points, and with only eight minutes left to play, the game was all but over.

Glenelg Country’s two top scorers – Miles and Warren Powers – took over in the fourth, combining to score 14 of the team’s 16 points in the quarter. Powers ended the game with 14 points. Lawrence Davis, who hit the Dragons’ only other shot in the fourth, finished with six points.

Glenelg Country led by as many as 29 points in the game.

With the win the Dragons improved to 24-3 on the season and earned a spot in the MIAA B conference championship on Tuesday against Annapolis Area Christian, a team Glenelg Country narrowly beat earlier this season, 66-62.

But the Dragons are not nervous.

“We play it like every game we played before. There’s nothing different,” Miles said. “It’s just a bigger game.”

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