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The Hornets' turnaround season ended with a 48-43 loss at Baltimore's Dunbar High in the Class 1A South Region title game.

Derrell Edwards led top-seeded Dunbar (18-5) with a game-high 20 points and added seven rebounds and three steals. Junior forward Raymond Baldwin had 12 points and a game-best 11 rebounds to lead Surrattsville (17-7), and Gamari Mayfield finished with 10 points and five rebounds.

The Poets, ranked No. 11 in the Baltimore area by the Baltimore Sun, outscored Surrattsville from the free throw line, 7-2, over the final 2 minutes, 17 seconds to punch their ticket to their 16th state semifinal appearance since the 1992-93 season.

For No. 2 seed Surrattsville, which went from one victory last season to a win shy of capturing a region title, it was a bitter pill to swallow after battling back from a nine-point deficit early in the fourth quarter.

"We tried to close out on [Dunbar's] shooters and then make a run," said Surrattsville coach Roderick Moore. "We just made some costly turnovers down the stretch."

"We had it right there, we just didn't capitalized," said Surrattsville senior forward Richard Harris.

Tied at 28-28 entering the final quarter, the Hornets missed six of seven shots and Dunbar went on an 11-2 run, capped by a layup by Roderick Harrison, for a 39-30 with 3:46 left to play. Leading 41-37, Dunbar's Corey Spence was called for a technical foul after he was fouled by Surrattsville's Charles Reid near midcourt.

Spence missed the front end of a one-and-one, and Harris' two technical free throws and Reid's drive to the basket brought the Hornets even at 41-41. Spence converted two free throws with 1:15 remaining, and Surrattsville turned the ball over, resulting in two more free throws by Edwards.

"We were expecting them to be big," said Edwards, who's headed to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. "We just overplayed them defensively."

It was a defensive struggle with both teams playing zone defenses for most of the game. Surrattsville led only once after the opening basket, but battled back to tie it at 28-28 after three periods.

The Hornets went nearly six minutes without a field goal before Avery Jasper's jumper pulled them to within four points at 34-30 in the fourth quarter. A 3-pointer from the corner by Devonte Wallace and Harrison's basket, extended Dunbar's lead.

Though Surrattsville was unable to add another chapter to its rebound season, the Hornets don't seem likely to suffer a dropoff next winter. Baldwin, Larry McCollum and Mayfield scheduled to return to the starting lineup, and the team also has eight other players set to return.

"It's been up and down," said Harris, one of four holdovers from the Surrattsville's 2008 team that made it to the state 1A title game. "This was a great year. We had great leadership."