Over the last decade, the Randallstown High School boys? basketball program has been buoyed by standouts like Levi Stukes (University of Georgia) or Johnny Higgins (Notre Dame Prep in Massachusetts). This season?s Rams squad may have been short on star power, but it?s miles-long on championship prowess.
The Baltimore County school won its fifth title last weekend by beating Prince George?s County?s Fairmont Heights, 66-63, at the University of Maryland?s Comcast Center to claim its second consecutive Class 2A trophy. In winning its third straight championship overall, Randallstown (24-3) extended its state postseason winning streak to 15 games.
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“At the start of the season, we didn?t know what we were going to be,” said Rams senior center/forward Darryl Bryant, who along with fellow senior reserve Antoine Jones played on the three title-winning squads. “They [Randallstown coaches] kept preaching to us character. There were times people complained about playing time, but everybody said if we come together we could win a state championship.”
Bryant endured a gamut of emotions in his final weekend as a Randallstown basketball player. The James Madison University-bound football prospect took the SAT Saturday morning, hours after helping the Rams to a semifinal victory over Wicomico late Friday evening.
He could only watch helplessly from the bench Saturday evening in his final game, fouling with over six minutes regulation. Bryant?s fellow frontcourt mates Alexander Jackson (17 points and seven rebounds) and Marques Jeter (seven points and six rebounds) came through down the stretch as Randallstown pulled away late from Fairmont Heights.
Whether it was a rebound or drawing charges, the Rams made crucial defensive plays in the final moments in the two games at Comcast Center. Randallstown said defense and conditioning has been the mantra during its run.
“Defense has been No. 1 and we all had to buy in,” said Rams junior swingman Kim English. “We did and it paid off.”
Randallstown joined Dunbar as the only Baltimore-area programs to win at least three consecutive titles.
“This is most gratifying based on not having that superstar or prime-time Division I guy,” said Randallstown coach Kim Rivers, whose five state championships are most all-time for area coaches. “These kids were just good kids, I didn?t have a whole bunch of troubled kids. They came through for me. They came through for us.”
