By Ben Spector
IJAMSVILLE- The schedule that many teams across Frederick County face could be compared to a gauntlet. Although the quality of play might not be the same as the quality of play in other local counties such as Montgomery, Prince George’s, or Baltimore the intensity of the game is magnified by the atmosphere that exists in the stands and on the court.
One of the prime benefits to playing in such a difficult atmosphere is that it helps replicate the playoff atmosphere that will be felt across the region and state when playoff time rolls around for public schools in Maryland.
That is why the Oakdale Bears’ 55-31 win over the Urbana Hawks is even more important than it appears to be on the surface.
The game was played at a high-intensity playoff-like pace and had maybe one of the best atmospheres for a game in the county this year thanks to the cheering that came from the Urbaniacs and the Oakdaliens, the respective student sections of each school.
In the end though Urbana couldn’t match the intensity on the court like their fans showed in the stands and after a few missed shots and a first half in which Oakdale took the reins by the hands and ended up waltzing to the win.
The Bears started out jumping on a 10-2 run early in the first quarter forcing Urbana head coach Mike Jarboe to take a time-out. Unfortunately for Jarboe there weren’t too many things he could do for the Hawks as their issues came not from using the wrong strategies but not being able to have the shots fall for them.
“We got a lot of good looks, we ran a great set in the first possession and got a great driver,” said Jarboe who’s Hawks fall to 6-6. “We had another couple great drives and it didn’t go in. I think that kind of made us not want to go inside anymore. They weren’t contested we just missed them.”
Urbana would finish the first half having only made 3 of 19 shots including just 1 of 11 from outside the arc. It looked even worse if you removed a lay-up made by Urbana senior forward Everette Flanders just 1:36 into the game. After taking out that lay-up the Hawks missed their first seven shots of the game.
With Urbana starting out slow Oakdale did what they needed to do to take an early advantage in the contest and that was simply make shots and make shots they did. Oakdale senior guard Tyler Horning put up 10 in the first half and by the time the horn for the second half sounded the Bears had a fat and comfortable 19 point lead, up 26-7.
Horning would finish with 14 for the Bears but the real star for the Bears was junior center Cory Schlee who put up a cool double-double scoring 13 points and snagging 11 boards for the team for Oakdale.
Afterwards Schlee seemed to recognize the importance of the game for the Bears, a team that had struggled early in the season but still played good basketball in their eyes.
“It means a lot. We look at this as kind of a turn-around game for the season,” said Schlee who was one of four Bears in double-digit points tonight. “This was a big win for us after losing three in a row.”
Oakdale head coach Terry Connolly seemed to echo the same sentiment.
“Our play has actually gotten better in the past two or three weeks but you don’t win and that’s hard,” said Connolly. ‘You’re playing Linganore, Frederick, Tuscarora, and Urbana. Those are four good teams. We talked about it not so much being the will to win but getting tired of losing.”
The main key in this game was the fact that one team managed to find their touch offensively and one team in the end struggled to find that touch. Urbana would finish the game going just 2 for 17 from behind the arc while Oakdale would go 5 for 8 from 3-point territory.
And while the reasons for why each team shot like that could be answered by a number of different explanations the one that everyone seemed to agree on was that the playoff atmosphere had an effect to some degree.
“We love when everyone shows out,” said Schlee who’s Bears will hope to continue their winning ways after an 11-day break and a couple of contests against weaker county opponents. “It’s a lot more fun for everyone.”
Follow Ben Spector on Twitter using his handle @bspec21. For more info on Maryland Sports Access follow them on Twitter at @MDSportsAccess.
