Snow Hill Win Region Title, Remains Unbeaten

BERLIN- Snow Hill boys' varsity basketball team's dream of a perfect season and a state championship are still alive this week after a harrowing 76-73 win over Worcester County rival Pocomoke on Monday night at Stephen Decatur.

The Eagles claimed the state's Class 1A-East region title on Monday in a game moved to Stephen Decatur because of repeated power outages at UMES, which was supposed to host the regional championship. The power outage almost proved to be a bad omen for Snow Hill, which eked out a three-point win over Pocomoke in the regional title game despite turning in what was not one of its best performances of the year.

But, to give credit where credit is due, Pocomoke played an excellent game on both ends of the floor to give the Eagles everything they could bargain for and more. The game was tied at 65-65 with 3:30 left in the fourth quarter when Snow Hill pushed out a lead. Pocomoke did not back down, however, cutting the lead to one point at 74-73 with time running down in the fourth.

In the end, Snow Hill prevailed to capture the 1A-East region title and improve to a perfect 25-0 on the season. More importantly, the regional title victory propelled the Eagles into the state's Class 1A Final Four this weekend with a very realistic shot at a state championship on the line.

Snow Hill will face Dunbar in the state semifinals this afternoon at the Comcast Center at the University of Maryland. Dunbar is one of the most storied high school basketball programs in the state, and the country for that matter, spending much of the 1980s and 1990s at or near the top of the national rankings and sending several players to college and ultimately the NBA. Dunbar, now 16-5 on the season, was the number-three seed in the Class 1A-North bracket and is the only team still alive that was not a number one seed in their region.

Snow Hill faces Dunbar at 3 p.m. this afternoon at the Comcast Center. Should the Eagles prevail, they will face the winner of the other semifinal game between Fort Hill and Surrattsville in the state championship game at 1 p.m. tomorrow.