"It kind of got us fired up that they'd schedule us," Thomas said. "Every game we've played against older people; so we're used to it. But this senior night and everything got us pumped up and ready to go."
Thomas led Oakdale, a first-year high school in Frederick County consisting of only freshman and sophomores, with 27 points as it defeated Chesapeake, 78-66, last night. Thomas was 17 for 21 and the Bears were 26 for 33 as a team from the foul line to hold on despite a late charge by the Cougars.
The Bears looked like a seasoned team against a Cougar lineup featuring seven seniors.
Both teams came out firing early with 81 total points scored by half.
"I guess we felt like we could trade basket for basket," Chesapeake coach Raymond Pack said. "It doesn't matter who you play, when you trade basket for basket and you don't get defensive stops, you can't win games."
Down nine at the half, the Cougars made a defensive switch that seemed to take the Bears out of their game.
"We were able to get the game to a fast pace in the first half, that's the way we like to play," Oakdale coach Terry Connell said. "In the second half they did the zone stuff and changed defenses and slowed us down."
Paced by six of Joe Russell's 12 points, and five of Joe Obitz's 16, Chesapeake made it a five-point game going into the fourth. That's as close as it would get.
Back-up center Trevor O'Connor scored seven of his 16 points in the fourth quarter as the Cougars faded to the young legs of the Bears.
For Thomas it was as simple as constant pressure.
"I think we really got pressure on them. We did full-court press the whole time and I think it really got them at the end," he said. "We converted free throws well and our bench stepped up."
Pack saw it more as a lack of defense.
"We didn't play defense, that's the whole thing in a nutshell," he said.
Oakdale (8-10) 24 21 12 21 - 78
Chesapeake (1-19) 21 15 17 14 - 66
Oakdale (78)
Heine 6(1) 0-0 13; James 1 2-2 4; Gouldin 2 1-2 5; Preston 0 2-2 2; Thomas 5 17-21 27; Bush 0 2-2 2; Heiser 1 0-0 2; Hoyle 3(1) 0-1 7; O'Connor 7 2-3 16. TOTALS: 25(2) 26-33 78.
Chesapeake (66)
Obitz 6(2) 2-2 16; Buchler 2 0-0 4; Russell 5 2-5 12; Terry 5 1-3 11; Garver 1 0-0 2; Swigert 0 0-2 2; Clark 1 0-0 2; Whelchel 4(2) 1-3 11; Rainge 2 0-1 4. TOTALS: 28(4) 6-17 66.
