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When the Oak Hill Academy (Va.) boys basketball team came to Washington, D.C. to play Montrose Christian three years ago, the Mustangs won with an improbable late rally.

Montrose's current crop of future college talent exhibited a similar never-say-die attitude when the teams hooked up again Friday at Georgetown Prep. But there was to be no repeat of the magic of 2006, and the Warriors took a 69-63 victory.

Oak Hill (36-0) is ranked No. 3 in the USA Today Super 25 national poll and now owns two wins over the Mustangs (21-2) this season. The first was in double-overtime.

Friday, Oak Hill raced out to a 7-2 lead to start the game and never trailed, putting things away with six free throws in the final 45 seconds.

"We answered every one of their runs and we kept scoring, and that helped," Warriors coach Steve Smith said. "I felt our guards were the key defensively in us winning the game."

Smith's squad was paced by 6-foot-9, 300-pound Keith "Tiny" Gallon's 18 points and 11 rebounds. The Oklahoma-bound forward scored twice in a key 8-3 run midway through the third quarter that put Oak Hill back in the driver's seat after Montrose had cut the lead to three points.

Montrose cut the lead again, to 47-43, on a 3-pointer by Terrence Ross (14 points) to close the third quarter. But the Warriors scored the first four points of the fourth from the foul line, and the Mustangs never got closer than five the rest of the way.

"We didn't play with the intensity we had been playing with," Montrose coach Stu Vetter said. "I was disappointed in the intensity level, but every time we play them it's a great game. A couple of plays down the stretch, a couple of baskets go in, it comes down to the wire again. I'm disappointed, but we've had a great year."

Vetter's Mustangs, ranked No. 6 nationally by USA Today, did squeeze off a few shots that could have made things interesting had they fallen. They also benefitted from a huge game by senior center Mouph Yarou (24 points, seven rebounds). Yarou scored the team's final four points on two free throws and a thunderous slam off a loose ball.

Senior forward Isaiah Armwood added 10 points and senior point guard Micah Fraction chipped in eight assists for the Mustangs, who could face Oak Hill again if both are invited to next month's eight-team National High School Championships at Georgetown Prep. Both Vetter and Smith believe their squads will receive an invitation next week.

"We had some great opportunities we just couldn't convert," said Armwood, who will join Yarou at Villanova University (Pa.) next year. "It's very disappointing. We didn't play our hardest."