Sophomore guard Devin Wingfield stepped to the free-throw line with 13 seconds remaining and Wilde Lake ahead by two. In a raucous road environment at Centennial, Wingfield’s first shot rattled off the rim and out.

The sophomore stepped away, relaxed and took a deep breath, then calmly swished the second foul shot. The Eagles, who trimmed a 13-point deficit to a one-possession game, still had an opportunity to force overtime. However, senior guard Josh Frazier’s contested 3-pointer wouldn’t fall and the Wildecats held on for a pivotal 68-65 Sierra Division win, their second over the Eagles in the past five days.

“We all stay together,” Wingfield said. “Even when we lose, after the game we talk to each other and see what we can improve on. We lost on Monday; we had to come back. We needed this win in the division.”

Wednesday’s game started similarly to Friday’s when Centennial took control early. The Eagles scored 18 points in the first quarter, rotating the ball from side to side and seemingly getting whatever shot they wanted. Wilde Lake (9-4, 5-1 Sierra Division) refocused in the second, particularly on defense. The Wildecats limited the Eagles (11-4, 4-3 Sierra) to just five second-quarter points and no baskets for the final 5:25.

Meanwhile, their offense found a rhythm, sparked by Wingfield who scored 10 points in the period. The young guard finished with a team-high 23 points and was in control of the offense all night. Led by Wingfield’s offensive effort and improved team defense, Wilde Lake took an eight-point lead into halftime.

“The effort, just being more focused. Being more locked in and paying attention to detail,” Wilde Lake coach Ty Lawson said of the change in the second quarter. “Flying all over the court, actually caring and recognizing that the defensive side of the ball allows us to play more freely offensively. I was just so proud of them the way they fought back.”

Centennial’s offense quickly took the lid off the basket in the third as Frazier got going. The senior connected on a contested perimeter jumper late in the frame to eclipse 1,000 career points. The Eagles, though, weren’t able to build off that feat as they were unable to generate consistent defensive stops.

“We weren’t good in help side defense. We didn’t help off the drives,” Centennial coach Rob Slopek said. “Noah Brazil is big and strong and he’s quick. We just weren’t there to help. Then, it was the same story as Friday night. We didn’t get enough rebounds to get us out of the defense. We give them second, third and fourth chances, they’re going to score.”

Fueled by its defense, Wilde Lake built momentum late in the third. Lawson implored his backcourt to intensify their pressure on Centennial’s final third-quarter possession.

The Wildecats forced a turnover and Wingfield found a cutting Jasiah Hyson for a layup, which extended Wilde Lake’s lead to 10 entering the fourth. Lawson often highlights such sequences while reviewing film and preaches their value in swinging momentum.

Centennial’s rebounding issues were ever-present in the fourth. Wilde Lake’s Dre Hoskins made his presence felt in the post, drawing contact and generating extra opportunities. Centennial’s perimeter shooting counteracted that as the Eagles scored 11 straight points to trim the deficit to two with just over a minute remaining.

Then, Hoskins delivered on the glass yet again. The senior center grabbed a contested rebound off a Brazil miss and laid the left-handed shot off the glass, completing a 3-point play with 42.6 seconds remaining.

“Be aggressive,” Hoskins said. “We knew the game was close. I told my teammates, ‘Everybody has got to crash the glass.’ If we crash, nine times out of 10, we get the rebound. I went back up, got the rebound and it put us back in [control of] the game.”

Wilde Lake hopes its five-day sweep of the Eagles will build momentum moving forward as it enters a stretch of four consecutive division games. Three of those contests are on the road, where the Wildecats know consistent effort and focus are necessary to maintain pace in the division.

Other boys basketball scores:

Hereford 50, Towson 40

Franklin 60, Loch Raven 55

Reservoir 61, Guilford Park 58

Spalding 68, John Carroll 59

Severn 64, St. Mary’s 54

Mt. Hebron 70, Oakland Mills 53

Atholton 59, River Hill 55

Howard 75, Long Reach 68

Hammond 73, Glenelg 63

Loyola Blakefield 92, St. Vincent Pallotti 58

Bel Air 63, Harford Tech 53

Girls basketball

Mount de Sales 49, John Carroll 41: Mount de Sales clinched the Interscholastic Athletic Association B Conference regular-season title with a 49-41 victory over visiting John Carroll.

Both teams came into the game with perfect 7-0 conference records with the winner clinching the top seed for the upcoming playoffs and the loser settling for second with one game remaining.

De Sales (20-5, 8-0) was led by junior Ella Powers who scored a team-high 17 points and added three assists, four rebounds and three steals.

After John Carroll’s Pieper McCue (game-high 20 points) made a short jumper to cut the Mount de Sales lead to 42-41 with 59 seconds left in the game, Katie Carroll’s free throw pushed the lead to two. Following the Patriots’ only turnover of the fourth quarter, Powers made a pair of free throws to push the lead to 45-41 with 37 seconds left.

“I was a little nervous,” Powers said. “I just made the sign of the cross, all glory to God and I knew that we would pull through in the end even if I missed it. I knew that they would come down and foul another player, so we would eventually get those free throws.”

Shelby Lewis, who became the sixth Mount de Sales player in school history to surpass 1,000 points earlier this season, finished with only five points because she was saddled with foul trouble.

But when she returned in the fourth quarter, the Carnegie-Mellon recruit proved her versatility. She hauled in six of her 10 rebounds and had two assists.

“I think she’s the best player in the B Conference,” John Carroll coach Jim Stromberg said.

— Craig J. Clary

New Town 54, Perry Hall 36: Sometimes it’s the little things that matter. A tweak here and a fix there. That’s what New Town coach Stephen Quillens told his team at halftime Wednesday against visiting Perry Hall.

“We were committing too many fouls in the first half and my players weren’t listening,” Quillens said. “That zone [defense] they played gave us a little trouble, but we just needed to stop with the fouls and get going.”

That’s exactly what they did.

After leading by eight at the half, the host Titans turned it up in the second half to defeat visiting Perry Hall, 54-36, in a key Baltimore County Division II game.

New Town (12-4, 8-0) was led by Milan Clark’s 13 points, while the Gators (10-6, 5-6) were led by 14 each by Tamiya Brown and Belen Ros.

“I thought we could have played better and things could have gone better for us, but we switched some things up and things started to get better,” Clark said. “We stopped committing fouls and putting them on the line, and our defense improved in the second half.”

“I knew we couldn’t press them. I knew if we tried, we’d be in trouble,” Perry Hall coach Scott Rudolph said. “I’d seen some film and decided to run a 1-2-2 zone defense against them, and it gave them some trouble for a while.”

The Titans looked to be in control most of the third quarter, but Perry Hall started to make a game of it midway through the frame. Trailing 30-17, the Gators got buckets from Maddy Rudolph and Tamiya Brown, as well as a 3-pointer from Sophie Blevins to cut the margin to five at 33-28 with 2:47 left in the third quarter.

Unfortunately for Perry Hall, New Town went on a run, outscoring the Gators 7-1 for the rest of the quarter to take a 40-29 lead after three.

The Titans put the game away early in the fourth quarter. New Town got a layup by Clark, a 3-pointer by Makiah Pollard and another layup by Tarshay Bell to start the quarter on a 7-0 run and push the lead to 47-29.

— Mike Frainie, for The Baltimore Sun

Mount Carmel 68, Mercy 56

Franklin 45, Loch Raven 43

Pikesville 73, Sparrows Point 23

Western Tech 56, Carver A&T 49

Westminster 46, Manchester Valley 37

Century 40, Marriotts Ridge 17

Carroll Christian 41, Loudon County 37

North Harford 63, C. Milton Wright 28

Oakland Mills 49, Mt. Hebron 32

Glenelg 39, Hammond 36

Howard 81, Long Reach 32

River Hill 48, Atholton 46

Wilde Lake 52, Centennial 40, OT

Reservoir 54, Guilford Park 30

Severn 41, St. Paul’s 31

Indian Creek 64 St. John’s Catholic Prep 49

Wrestling

Old Mill 53, Southern 21

Old Mill 57, Glen Burnie 17

Chesapeake-AA 58, Broadneck 12

To submit scores and stats, email mdscores@baltsun.com with a full box score, including first and last names of the players.