On Wednesday, March 2, the Centennial High School boys’ varsity basketball team traveled to Marriotts Ridge to take on the top-seeded Mustangs to take in the finals of the Class 3A Regional Championship.

Centennial started off strong with a three-pointer from junior Ty Beck-Winter, but Marriotts Ridge followed that with a 9-0 run, forcing the Eagles to call a timeout. Although the Eagles responded well after, they were still down by seven points, with Marriotts up 17-10 after the first quarter.

Centennial kept it relatively close in a back and forth 2nd quarter, with both teams scoring 11 points. The Eagles were controlling Marriotts’ two best scorers, with a score of 28-21 Marriotts at half.

Even though the Eagles were not down by a large margin, the score was a bit deceiving. Centennial was a much smaller team than Marriotts, and Marriotts was taking advantage of the height they had down low.

Straight out of the half, the Mustangs went on a 10-5 run, forcing a Centennial timeout. Marriotts was sticking to what was working in the first half and working through the paint, which led to an eventual 21-9 run throughout the quarter, extending Marriotts lead to 49-30 at the end of the 3rd quarter.

After this, things started to get out of hand for Centennial. Shots were constantly rimming out, and the players were not taking advantage of fast break opportunities while being outrebounded on both sides of the court.

Unfortunately, it was too late for a comeback, and the Eagles fell to the Mustangs 67-39. The height of Marriotts Ridge was too much to handle for Centennial. The Eagles put up a valiant effort in the closure of what would be a great season for Centennial. 

Coming into the season with low expectations, the Eagles greatly eclipsed what was expected, earning a first-round bye in the playoffs, and also taking down Howard in the semi-finals. 

After the game, junior Ty Beck-Winter reflected on this season and gave high expectations going into next season.

 “There are so many positives to take away from this year, and I can’t wait for this team to turn some heads next year,” Beck-Winter stated. 

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