For the second year in a row, Glen Burnie HS advanced to the Maryland 4A semifinals at the Comcast Center. The Gophers went 23-4 and were ranked No. 14 in the final Washington Post Top Twenty rankings. The 23 wins set a new school single season victory total.

The Gophers lost in the semifinals to the ultimate 4A Champion Northwestern and their brilliant 6'8" All-Met Jeff Green. Glen Burnie lost when Green blocked a potential game-tying shot at the buzzer. Not suprisingly, Glen Burnie Coach Mike Rudd put the ball in the hands of his outstanding 5'8" senior guard Mitch Guest for the last shot.

"Mitch has been a great player for us for three years, he scored over 1,300 career points, he hit a lot of big, clutch shots,” said Coach Rudd. "From our perspective, the tough thing about that last shot was that he was fouled two times- their guard was absolutely hanging off of Mitch and Green literally landed on him after he blocked the shot. But that isn't to take anything away from Northwestern. It was a really exciting game and they have some terrific athletes and a lot of size. Their coach (Northwestern Coach Tony Dickens) said that Green will be in the NBA one day, that may be so, we'll see, I will tell you this, they list Green at 6'9", but it was like trying to shoot over someone 7'2" He blocked about 10 of our shots!"

If Guest's last game didn't end as Glen Burnie planned, Guest's last two seasons were certainly memorable ones. The Gophers went a combined 42-10 during their 4A Final Four seasons in 2002-2003 and 2003-2004. Guest averaged 22.5 points a game as a junior, 21.9 points, 6.2 assists, 3 steals and 4.6 rebounds as a senior. Even though he averaged over 20 points a game, the diminutive guard hit over 50% of his field goal attempts this year. Coach Rudd also said the Guest hit 76% of his free throws over his varsity career. An outstanding outside shooter with deep three-point range, Guest averaged more than 3 three point field goals a game.

"Mitch made First Team All-Baltimore Metro and First Team All- Anne Arundel County,” said Coach Rudd. "What was remarkable this year was that he led the county both in scoring and assists. He had 1,351 points, which is a school career record."

As he indicated when we went In The Gym with Glen Burnie HS in December, Guest will go to prep school for a year before attending college. In December, Coach Rudd told MdVarsity.com that Illinois and Washington State were two of the high D-I colleges expressing interest in Guest.

What prep schools are Guest considering?

"Actually, Mitch's AAU coach is kind of taking the lead on that. I think that Hargrave (Military Academy) in Virginia has been discussed, as well as one in Massachusetts, perhaps, Worcester Academy I think the extra year of high school will help both his academics and his personal maturity. Mitch is a great player, very talented and competitive, and he is team-oriented."

What are Guest's strengths as a player?

"First of all, Mitch has a great will to win. He is very quick. He is a scoring guard, but is also a good floor leader and playmaker. He is also a very good defensive player," said Coach Rudd.

Coach Rudd will be coaching the Baltimore Team in the April 4 Charm City Classic at the Towson Center. Guest will be playing for his team.

"I was watching Mitch in practice the other night, he was doing a great job of seeing his teammates and running the offense. Because he has been such a big scorer for us (at Glen Burnie HS), I didn't consider him a 'pure point guard', but he can definitely play the point."

With a prep year behind him, Guest now figures to be a heavily recruited backcourt target in the Class of 2005.