Most coaches would love to have a hard-fought dual wrapped up by the time the final match of the night approaches. However, in a competitive area such as Carroll County, winner-takes-all finales are all too common.

Tuesday night’s dual between No. 8 Manchester Valley and Century was just the latest to go down that path as heavyweights Cru Boog and Christian Prince stepped into the circle with the Knights holding a two-point lead.

Manchester Valley’s Boog got the job done. All he needed was any kind of victory, but he got his work done quickly, pinning Prince in a mere 35 seconds to secure the 38-34 win for the Mavericks.

“It’s always good to have Cru Boog in a situation like that,” Manchester Valley coach Dave Dodson said. “To put it in a senior, a leader’s hands to bring it home like that is pretty special for him and the team.”

Boog waited almost three hours to wrestle Tuesday, but he was focused and locked in all night. Sitting next to a coach as he intensely watched his teammates one by one, Boog cheered his teammates on, being the first to offer advice that led to a win or some encouragement after one of his teammates suffered a tough loss.

“It’s all about pushing your teammates to get better,” Boog said. “I work hard and I want to make sure the others are following and working just as hard if not harder.”

Hard work was the theme of the night as both teams pushed each other to the limit, and in the process treated the fans to many extremely close, intense matches. The Knights’ usual suspects were at it again as JT Ferguson, Dom Damico and Brayden Vassell picked up three of Century’s wins on the night. Ferguson’s victory put him just one win shy of 100 for his career.

“Credit to Century, they did a nice job. They won a couple close matches and took us right to the limit,” Dodson said. “But we won the matches we needed to win.”

In the back-and-forth dual, the Mavericks picked up victories from 126-pounder Dakota Barnard, who defeated Grady Faye, 9-2, and Ryan Hydorn, who earned an impressive technical fall in his 138-pound matchup with Wyatt King.

The Mavericks’ win that had the crowd alive was the 157-pound match. Luke Bourg found himself in a pickle heading into the third period down three points. Bourg persevered, not only scoring eight straight points in the final two minutes but going on to pin Talin Evans in what was one of the key moments for the Mavericks.

“I knew I was down, so I knew I had to do something,” Bourg said. “I knew my team needed me, so I didn’t give up for them. It was close but we finished it out.”

Now with another dual win, this one coming off the heels of a bitter defeat at the hands of South Carroll, Dodson saw the most important trait he needed to see from his team as they bounced back and got a close win.

“It’s about resiliency this time of year,” Dodson said. “We’re continuing to improve and finding ways to get better every single day to be right in the mix at the end.”

Boys basketball

Northeast-AA 78, Annapolis 73: A hamstring injury stole too much of Stephen Ferguson’s sophomore season. The Northeast point guard is now making up for lost time.

If he wasn’t pickpocketing Annapolis to feed senior Titus Simeona, he was running up the score himself. His breakout in the second quarter set the course for the Eagles to overcome the Panthers’ double-digit lead and ultimately claim a 78-73 win.

“First game back in a month,” Ferguson said, “just had to show out.”

Ferguson unleashed 19 points, coinciding with Simeona’s team-high 27 to secure Northeast (8-10) the sort of win it’s been missing.

“We haven’t had any big county wins,” Simeona said. “This is a big one.”

Rallying to an advantage, though, was not nearly as difficult as keeping it.

As soon as Northeast overtook host Annapolis late in the third quarter on a putback by junior Josh Howard, Darrian Carter brought the Panthers back even, tying the game at 51 late in the third. The 6-foot-4 senior’s goals were two-fold: he had to battle back for his Panthers, of course. But his friends had a “1,000 points” sign waiting for him behind the bench, too.

Carter would score 17 of his 27 points in the second half, marking his career milestone on a free throw. Northeast coach Roger O’Dea couldn’t be surprised; he considers Carter a “top-five player in the county.”

But Northeast was just as resolved to fight, too.

After jumping back ahead, Eagles junior Taylor Watts-Johnson ripped a rebound that secured Northeast’s two-point lead at the end of the third. The Panthers threatened the Eagles’ margin nonstop throughout the final eight minutes, even slashing it to a single point off a perimeter shot by Jackson McIver (his third of the night).

“We tried to shut [Carter] down and limit [McIver] on 3s. We could’ve done a better job of that,” O’Dea said.

Northeast stuck to the defense it implemented at the end of the first quarter to keep its head above water: a 3-2 flat, zone defense, pinning two players at the basket at all times. Eagles fought and claimed loose balls and sent them the other way for baskets.

“Stephen brings us points — something we’ve been lacking — so we went a little offense-defense with him as much as we could,” O’Dea said. “And there were the free throws.”

Junior Sammy Tetteh delivered three of the Eagles’ nine fourth-quarter foul shot shots. O’Dea was pleased to see it from the player his staff worked with since age 5, expecting him to become the team’s future star.

“They’ve been a struggle for us,” O’Dea said, “but we hit them this time.”

Graduation losses already set up the defending Class 3A state champions for challenges this season, but a rash of injuries struck a detrimental blow to their early season. Ferguson’s presence, evidenced by Tuesday’s performance, cost the Eagles’ offense in his absence. Only three returned from last year’s squad and surrounded themselves with 11 underclassmen. The loss of Bub Townsend to injury ripped a hole in Northeast’s rebounding plans and removed their “glue guy” in one blow. It’s tormented O’Dea and his players every day what could have been this winter.

But, the Eagles now rest and heal for the next seven days. They believe Tuesday’s outcome is a preview of what they can do when they’re healthier.

“We just have to keep it going,” Simeona said.

— Katherine Fominykh

South River 65, Glen Burnie 52

Meade 60, Southern 46

Old Mill 76, Broadneck 62

Severna Park 42, Crofton 41

Liberty 68, Pikesville 53

Fallston 65, Perryville 36

North Harford 75, Rising Sun 54

Patterson Mill 65, C. Milton Wright 45

Girls basketball

North County 22, Arundel 18

South River 63, Glen Burnie 21

Chesapeake-AA 53, Severn Run 25

Severna Park 34, Crofton 20

Broadneck 60, Old Mill 31

South Carroll 43, Winters Mill 29

C. Milton Wright 44, Bohemia Manor 39

Aberdeen 37, Harford Tech 17

Edgewood 41, North Harford 29

Havre de Grace 58, Bel Air 41

Patterson Mill 42, Fallston 39

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