Northwestern upsets No. 14 Forest Park for Baltimore City Division II title

VIDEO GALLERY (PHOTOS BY DEWAIN CLARK)

Hanging onto a one-point lead with 6.7 seconds left, Northwestern senior guard Maynard Brown got behind the defense on an inbounds play and finished with a layup to lift the Wildcats to a 56-53 upset over No. 14 Forest Park in the Baltimore City Division II championship on Thursday at Morgan State University.

“The play wasn’t set for me,” Brown explained.  “The play was just to get the ball inbound and take our time so they could foul us. But I had eye contact with [Tyrell Wilson] and I just flew down the court.  It was clutch.”

Brown and Jaylin Sharp both finished with 18 points for Northwestern (12-7 overall).  Tyrell Wilson (seven rebounds) added six points and Moorman scored five fourth quarter points.

Quinton Judd led all scorers with 21 points.  Anton Waters contributed 12 points and 13 rebounds, while Deanthony McCormick and Gregory Vaughn combined for 17 points for the Foresters (15-5).

The Wildcats missed the front-end of consecutive one-and-one opportunities, giving Forest Park the ball with 10.5 seconds left to play and the chance to score the winning bucket.

With Judd on the bench after fouling out seconds earlier, the Foresters targeted Waters in the post.  The sophomore forward lost possession of the ball out of bounds as he made his move to the basket.

After a timeout, Wilson connected with Brown for the game-clinching bucket.

A layup by Vaughn gave Forest Park a 51-46 advantage with 5:25 remaining in the fourth quarter.  The Foresters slowed the tempo but the Wildcats responded with an 8-2 run to take the lead for good.

Forest Park defeated host Northwestern, 78-58, back on Feb. 1 and the Wildcats were ready for the rematch.

“The difference was, in that last game, we missed a lot of shots,” Northwestern coach Caprizio Chisholm said.  “We went back and looked at the film and we went to 12 possessions in a row without scoring a basket.”

“We were a lot hungrier,” Sharp said.  “The first time we played them, we didn’t play any defense at all. This time, we came out scrappier and just hungry.”

Judd scored seven straight points in the third quarter, including an and-one jam that helped push the Foresters out to a five points lead.  With his team ahead by six, Judd was called for his fourth foul with 2:24 left in the quarter.

With Judd on the bench, Northwestern closed the quarter with a 9-3 spurt to tie the score at 44-44 entering the final quarter. 

Each team had opportunities to distance itself in the final quarter but struggled from the free-throw line.

“We missed too many free-throws down the stretch,” said Forest Park coach Greate White, whose team played without a leading scorer in Sharrod Hargrove. “We lost by three points and missed eight free-throws down the stretch that would have won the game.”

“My guys were determined. I have six seniors and they said that they were not going to go out this way. They said they were going to go out on top,” Chisholm said.

Northwestern returns to the court on Friday with an opening round playoff game against WEB DuBois in the Class 1A South Regionals.

The Wildcats are looking to build on the momentum of winning the city crown.

“That’s what we came here for, to win a championship,” Brown said.  “We’re in the gym all the time. Even on weekends. When school is out, we’re in the gym. And we’re not done yet. We’re going to states.”

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