Nine area boys’ basketball teams captured top seeds as brackets for the state public high school tournament was announced Sunday morning at Long Reach in Howard County.
No. 1 Patterson has top billing in the Class 4A North Region playoffs. The Clippers, who will play City College in Tuesday’s Baltimore City Division I finals at Morgan State University, begin pursuit of their first state Final Four berth against either Dulaney or Thomas Johnson from Frederick County Feb. 28.
The Clippers lost to Urbana in last year’s region finals in Frederick. Urbana is seeded third.
Defending Class 3A champ Milford Mill is the again the top seed in the North Region with Centennial No. 1 in the East. Dunbar, last year’s Class 1A state champ, and Owings Mills are top seeds in the South and North, respectively. The Poets defeated the Eagles in last year’s finals and could meet again in the state semifinals.
Local squads have all four No. 1’s in Class 2A. Unbeaten and No. 6 Oakland Mills, who lost on the road in the South Region finals, has home court advantage this year. The Scorpions have No. 10 Broadneck in the District V finals Wednesday evening at Mount Hebron then host either Prince George’s County’s Central or Patuxent from St. Mary’s County in the region quarterfinals.
After losing to City College in last season’s North Region finals, Edmondson garnered the North top-billing. The Red Storm could again cross paths with the Knights (seeded fourth) in the semifinal round. After its city title match with Patterson, City begins its pursuit of a three-peat against Douglass in the quarterfinals Feb. 28.
No. 11 South Carroll (West) and Fallston (East) are also top seeds. The state tournament begins Friday with opening round action followed quarterfinal and semifinal play, Feb. 28 and March 2, respectively. Region championships will be decided March 4.
The road again will lead to Comcast Center on the campus of the University of Maryland for the state Final Four, March 10th and 11th. The state finals are March 12.
