As was the case the last time you heard from me, a couple of my boys basketball playoff picks wound up coming back to haunt me last week. I did get Edgewood beating North East in the 2A East semifinal game, which the Rams did easily, knocking off the Indians by a whopping 37 points. But, in Saturday’s regional final, which pitted Edgewood against Easton, the Rams were outscored, 42-25, in the second and fourth quarters on their way to a 72-56 loss. I had the Rams winning that game and moving on to the state tournament (and avenging last year’s quintuple overtime loss to Easton, which happened in the 2009 regional semifinals, not the regional championship game, which I incorrectly stated last week).

I also picked Havre de Grace to knock off Owings Mills and move to the 1A North title game, but that didn’t happen, either. Owings Mills kept the Warriors off the charity stripe for just about the entire game by not committing a foul until the final five minutes, and wound up knocking out Havre de Grace with a 66-60 win.

The one I did get right, Parkville beating C. Milton Wright in the 3A North semifinal, was super close through the first two quarters, with CMW trailing 35-32 at halftime. The Mustangs eventually lost 70-48, which allowed me to salvage a 50-50 record for the week.

So, with Edgewood’s loss, high school boys basketball is done in this county until next winter. The 2009-10 season was one of the most exciting I’ve had the pleasure to witness in my time at The Aegis. Here are some highlights, and awards I made up just for this column:

Most exciting regular-season game: This is pretty tough to pick because a load of important match-ups in both divisions were decided by five or less points, but I’d have to go with the Feb. 22 contest between Joppatowne and Edgewood in which the Rams’ Michael Coleman banked in a half-court buzzer beater in the first overtime period to give his team a 72-69 win.

Best post-season game: This one isn’t so tough. On March 2, the C. Milton Wright boys held on through an insane final minute, and watched their opponent’s best shooter miss what would have been a game-winning 15-foot jumper, to beat Hereford, 66-65, in the 3A North quarterfinal.

The “defying my expectations award” goes to: Havre de Grace. My expectations were that Havre de Grace, like just about every UCBAC team that has earned a promotion from the Susquehanna (lower) Division, would not be in the race for a Chesapeake (upper) title. I’d seen so many squads get the snot beat out of them and sent packing in their first year after winning the lower division that I’d gotten a bit jaded. The Warriors were not only a force in the Chesapeake, they made history by becoming the first UCBAC team in any sport to win an upper division crown one year after being promoted. Also, they beat Aberdeen twice in the regular season, and nobody has done that in a good long while (at least since I’ve been here). Thank you, Warriors, for making me a little less cynical.

The “thank you for not losing your minds” award goes to: Harford County’s athletic directors. I know this goes beyond boys basketball, but the ADs of this county really stepped it up after two weeks of sporting events had to be rescheduled following the double whammy blizzards in February. Everyone got (most of) their important games and meets in before the post-season began, and as far as I know nobody is sitting in a padded room, locked in a straight jacket after trying to figure out a new schedule: win win.

I have a few more awards to hand out, but I’m going to wait until next week.

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