by Derek Toney

It's said that there's a learning curve with young athletic teams. In most cases, the so-called curve is a more of a volatile wave of inconsistency. Just ask City College boys' basketball coach Mike Daniel.
 
This season, Daniel has witnessed the ebb and flow first hand with an inexperienced yet talented squad. It was no different Thursday afternoon against Milford Mill, but the No. 16 Knights were able to pull away late for a 44-35 victory at the Baltimore County school's Holiday Mixer.

Sophomore wing forward C.J. Fair led all scorers with 18 points for City (6-1) , and junior guard Quentin Goodwin converted six free throws in the final quarter. Junior forward Kevin Fulton led Milford Mill (1-4) with 17 points.

Trailing by one entering the fourth period, City held the Millers to two field goals while making 11 of 15 free throws for its third consecutive decision. A day earlier on Wednesday, the Knights routed Princeton Claremont Academy, 64-41.

"I'm real excited about what we did defensively holding them [Milford Mill] to 35 points," said Daniel. "We fell asleep a couple of times, and young teams will do that."

"We struggled a lot," said Johnson. "We had a lot of turnovers in the third quarter and early in the fourth. We didn't compete the way we should have."

After an uneven first half, City had command early in the third quarter, scoring the first 11 points for a 28-20 lead with the six foot, seven inch Fair responsible for nine. The Knights managed just one field goal with three turnovers over the last three minutes of the third as a steal and layup by Anthony Goode gave Milford Mill the advantage at 31-30.

Goodwin put City's first points of the final period with two free throws with five minutes, 14 seconds remaining, then hit two more to give the east Baltimore school to lead for good at 34-33. Fair followed with a steal that was converted into a Malik Pack layup, the Knights' first goal in more than six minutes.

Fulton had both Milford Mill's field goals in the fourth quarter as the Millers missed 13 of 15 shots with five turnovers. The Washington Avenue school has been more down on its learning curve this season as another opportunity at victory slipped away again.

"I thought we outplayed them [City] tonight," said Milford Mill coach Al Holley, whose team gets defending Baltimore County champ and No. 5 Randallstown to start post-holiday competition next Friday evening. "We played hard and had the tempo, but we just make mistakes at critical times."

The Knights don't have a senior in the starting lineup with sophomores Jordan Lathan and Nate Ayers and junior Adam Johnson joining Fair and Johnson. Daniel believes the "youth movement" will pay off later in the season.

"With young guys, you really don't know what they're going to do and my young guys command the bulk of the minutes," said Daniel. "Our coaching staff made the decision to go with the young guys and we're going to live or die with that."

Milford Mill Holiday Mixer
City College 44, Milford Mill 35
City: Fair 18, Johnson 7, Goodwin 6, Satterfield 2, Ayers 1, Pack 2, Lathan 8. Totals 14 15-25 44.
Milford Mill: Goode 6, Code 6, Fulton 17, Bradley 1, Jones 3, Martin 2. Totals 15 4-6 35. Halftime: Milford Mill 20, City College 17.

City                9   8 13 14-44
Milford Mill     7 13 11   4-35