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Delone closes out Antietam to advance


Delone Catholic didn't spend any time celebrating its win in Wednesday's first round of the District 3 Class AA playoffs.

Bryce Mondorff scored 25 points to lead the No. 7-seeded Squires to a 62-49 win against No. 10 Antietam, but they went into the locker room and immediately took a look at a scouting report of their next opponent: Trinity.

“We are done with this, we are moving on," coach Lawrence Williams said. "We have bigger apples to pick."

Delone Catholic (11-12) started slow against Antietam (9-14), missing several layups and committing double-digit turnovers in the first half, but still took an eight-point lead into halftime.

“I don’t know why, but I think these guys have a little bit of nervousness still," Williams said. "We’ve been in districts before, so the only person that should have any nervousness would’ve been Brady Alexander, a freshman guard starting his first district game.”

Alexander hit two 3-pointers during a 16-5 run to start the third quarter as the Squires coasted to the decisive win. Mondorff towered over a small Mountaineers lineup and used his size to score 10 points in the paint and get to the free throw line 16 times.

“Overall, I thought we did a lot of things extremely well," Williams said. "At the end of the game, we were up 16, and we’re taking care of the ball and not forcing up shots. We lost games to South Western and Gettysburg where we were up 8 or 9 and we come down and rush up a shot and they get a bucket. I thought we finished the game the way that we should have.”

As the focus quickly turned to Saturday's game against the No. 2 Shamrocks, the Squires vowed to take better control of the ball. Williams told his players that they'll find themselves "down by 25 in the blink of an eye" if they come out turning the ball over like they did Wednesday.

Mondorff will also face much tougher competition in terms of size from Trinity, but said he plans to sell his fakes better and adjust his game the way he's used to from playing in AAU games.

“I believe we can beat anyone, I’d be crazy if I didn’t," he said. "Why would I show up if I didn’t think we could? But they put on the uniform just like we do, so it will be a good game, I’m looking forward to it.”

Although Antietam's season came to an end, the Mountaineers did get a nice moment in the final seconds of the game. The Antietam fans who made the long drive cheered loudly as senior Jakob Ream, who has autism, entered the game with less than a minute left. Then fans of both teams cheered louder than they had all game after Ream drained a 3-pointer from the top of the key with less than 10 seconds left.

Antietam (49)

Nate Beltran 10 6-9 27, Erick Mejia 2 3-4 7, James Sierra 2 4-8 8, Jaquan Peren 1 0-0 2, Anthony Figueroa 1 0-1 2, Jakob Ream 1 0-0 3. Totals — 17 13-22 49.

Delone Catholic (62)

Bryce Mondorff 6 12-16 25, Dorsey 3 3-7 9, L. Alexander 4 0-3 8, Maitland 1 2-2 4, Brady 1 0-0 2, Kuntz 1 2-2 4, Brady Alexander 2 4-6 10. Totals — 18 23-36 62.

Antietam _ 6 _ 12 _ 11 _ 20 _ — _ 49

Delone Catholic _ 13 _ 13 _ 20 _ 13 _ — _ 62

3-point goals — Antietam 1 (Beltran 1, Ream 1), Delone Catholic 3 (B. Alexander 2, Mondorff).