UPPER MARLBORO — Melo Trimble concedes that his mind wandered at times Saturday night as his Bishop O’Connell team took on Potomac in the DMV Tip-Off Classic at Wise High School.
ESPN’s No. 2 prospect in the state, who has signed a letter of intent to join the Terrapins men’s basketball team next fall, often would find himself staring down Wolverines guard and fellow Terps commit Dion Wiley, and he’d think about the duo’s future in College Park.
“All I thought about was being on the court at the same time,” Trimble said. “It’s going to be nice.”
Trimble, though, was focused enough to score 24 points and lead the Knights to a 78-72 victory over Wiley and the Wolverines with coach Mark Turgeon in attendance. Wiley, who was hampered by a swollen left foot after rolling his ankle two days earlier, finished with 11 points.
While both top-50 recruits were intent on helping their teams earn a win Saturday night, they did admit that it was fun to compete against each other.
“We was talking since we knew when the game was,” Wiley said. “I was talking to him earlier today. I said, ‘I’ll see you at 7:30.’”
Guard Roddy Peters and assistant coach Dustin Clark were also in attendance for the contest. Wiley developed a strong relationship with Clark during the recruiting process and is close friends with Peters, so he said he enjoyed having those two at the game.
Trimble, meanwhile, said he’d glance into the stands at times during the game to see what Turgeon was doing.
“One time I saw him walk up,” Trimble said. “I just stopped and looked.”
Trimble did his best to leave a good impression on his future coach. The point guard began the game by corralling a loose ball after the tip and taking it straight to the basket for a layup to open the scoring.
He controlled the tempo for the rest of the contest and had seven assists unofficially to go along with a team-high 24 points.
“It’s not all about scoring,” Trimble said. “It used to be about scoring, but once I started winning, I found out that that it was about the team.”
Wiley wasn’t able to flash his full potential in the highly anticipated tilt because of his injury. He finished with 11 points — two in the second half — and had a noticeable limp during much of the game, though he did display his shooting stroke when given the opportunity.
Sophomore Walter Broddie helped aid his hobbling teammate and directed Potomac’s offense for much of the game. Broddie, a shifty point guard rumored to be a Terps target in the 2016 recruiting class, finished with a game-high 28 points while wearing shoes emblazoned with the Maryland state flag.
“I applaud him for picking up my half of the slack for the second half while my ankle was hurting,” Wiley said.
Trimble, though, took over late with a pair of nifty finishes near the rim in the fourth quarter and several free throws in the final two minutes to seal the game.
The key, he said, was calming his nerves and moving past the excitement of battling his future teammate in front of the man at the helm of the Terps program. And in doing so, Trimble was able to outduel Wiley about nine months before they begin their college careers as teammates.
“Coach [Joe Wootten] told me before the game, ‘It’s not the you and Dion show, it’s a team one,’” Trimble said. “So I went out there, I played as a team and we got the win.”
