After Coach Tobias Jenifer and his Huntingtown boys’ basketball players were seated behind a table in Xfinity Center’s interview room, a Maryland athletic association employee asked Jenifer for an opening statement following a 61-40 loss to Oakdale in the Maryland 3A boys’ state championship game.
“Just looking at the stat sheet,” Jenifer said after an 18-second pause. “They were better than us tonight.”
Jenifer paused again.
“I feel like I let these guys down,” Jenifer said after another 20 seconds while fighting back tears. Guard Kyle Jones, sitting next to him, placed his hand on Jenifer’s left shoulder.
Jenifer and Huntingtown needed time to process what had transpired in College Park. The Hurricanes were strong all winter, contending in the Southern Maryland Athletic Conference and qualifying for their first state championship game.
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On the biggest stage, however, Huntingtown (21-4) never found a rhythm.
“We just didn’t come out like we wanted to play, as a whole team,” Huntingtown forward Jayden Holland said. “Once you’re in the state finals, and you let a team come out and just punch you in the mouth like that, it’s hard to come back. That’s exactly what we let them do.”
Huntingtown has long prided itself on defense. When the Calvert County school opened in 2004, basketball coaches posted a blue-and-white sign in the gym that reads “THE DEFENSE NEVER RESTS.” But Huntingtown trailed 32-13 with 2:30 remaining in the first half.
The Hurricanes capped the half with a 10-0 run, cutting the deficit to single digits. Oakdale (21-6) opened the third quarter with back-to-back three-pointers and led by 20 points with just under four minutes remaining.
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Jenifer said his team was still feeling the effect of playing 48 hours earlier, when the Hurricanes upset Baltimore City College in double overtime, rallying from a fourth-quarter deficit.
“If we could have had an extra day to recover and get our legs back under us,” said Jenifer, who graduated from Huntingtown in 2009, “maybe there’s a different result or maybe the margin isn’t as big.”
After Huntingtown pulled its starters, forward Roger Jones Jr. converted Huntingtown’s second three-pointer of the game with about five seconds remaining. Huntingtown’s fans erupted in cheers, but they grew quiet moments later when the buzzer sounded and Oakdale players stormed the court.
“I’m proud of my team at the end of the day,” said Jones, who scored a team-high 12 points. “They might feel some type of way; they might feel hurt. But at the end of the day, I feel like we had such a successful season. You can’t even hang your head that much.”
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