For the third straight year, the Middletown High School Boys Basketball team has moved on to the second round of the playoffs. This time the Knights were able to take down Boonsboro, and advance to play Oakdale on March 4.
The Knights were a heavy favorite, and when the playoff drawings came out, there was no doubt the Knights had an “easy” game in the first round.
“We only look at one game at a time,” said MHS senior, Brad Rinehart. “We understood that if we lost to Boonsboro our season was over, and we aren’t ready to pack up yet.”
Both teams seemed tentative in the early going, but MHS sophomore, Matt Considine, came in off the bench and gave the Knights a huge boost offensively. Considine scored five of the Knights seven first quarter points, leading the Knights to a, 7-3, lead at the end of the first quarter.
Considine finshed the game with 11 points, to lead the Knights offensively.
The Knights began to feed off the newly formed student section, the Knightmares, and exploded to take a 23-11 lead at halftime.
“The crowd gives us motivation,” said Rinehart. “We are going out there for our school and community. We want to get the W for them as much as ourselves.”
Knights senior, Ben Panther, knocked down a three at the beginning of the third quarter to extend the Knights lead to 15.
The Knights and Warriors traded buckets for the next few minutes to give the Knights a 30-19 lead.
Junior, Cedric Ayenu, was able to elevate, and finish a nice pass from Tim Schumacher for an alley-oop slam. This pumped a lot of energy into the Knights, and forced the Warriors to call timeout.
Ayenu’s dunk also gave the Knights a, 32-19, lead. Ayenu also pulled down 13 rebounds.
The Warriors scored only four points the remaining 10:19, as the Knights cruised to an easy, 55-23, victory.
The Knights will now face the favorite to win it all in class 2A, Oakdale. The Bears dominated the Knights in both meetings this season, beating Middletown by a comined 61 points this season.
Oakdale received a buy in the first round, as they did last season when they made it to the class 2A semifinals.
The Knights will be facing some serious disadvantages against Oakdale, but for now the seniors are taking a moment to reflect on what is likely their last game at home.
“It felt great to a get a victory in my last home game,” said Rinehart. “It’s overwhelming, but hopefully we can get a victory against [Oakdale], and keep this journey going.”
