Northwestern Comes From Behind to Beat Bladensburg

The boys basketball team rallied back from an 11-point deficit to take a late lead in Tuesday's game at Bladensburg, but due to their inability to put the Mustangs away, they had to sweat it out until the very end.

The Wildcats survived a desperation half-court heave from Bladensburg's Khalil Tucker as time expired to earn a 53-50 victory.

"It was too much for the heart," NHS coach Terrance Burke, Sr. joked. "We missed about seven or eight free throws down the stretch that could have actually put the game away. So, they just wanted us to wait until the time ran out, basically. They were keeping me on my feet."

The Wildcats (3-2) led by three points with 2.9 seconds remaining and had a chance to put the game out of reach, but junior guard Jalen Prince missed a pair of free throws. Bladensburg's Christian Leake grabbed the rebound and worked the ball to Fletcher, who took one long dribble and pulled up from just inside midcourt. His shot hit high off the backboard and bounced off the rim.

"It was just a lack of focus down the stretch," Bladensburg coach Ryan Redmann said. "Northwestern made the plays, Bladensburg didn't. We could go back to the books and look at the turnovers, the missed free throws, but in the last minute it's just about effort. [It was a] lack of effort and attention to detail. I've got to credit [Northwestern]."

The Wildcats led 13-11 after one quarter of play, but the Mustangs (1-4) stormed back to take a 29-21 lead at halftime. Seniors Greg Reed-LaFortune and Alex Taylor combined to score 17 of Bladensburg's 18 points in the second quarter, as they got to the basket seemingly at will.

The Mustangs opened up an 11-point lead on a lay-in by Fletcher, but the Wildcats scored the final four points of the third quarter to cut the deficit to six. They began the fourth quarter on a 6-0 run to tie the game at 40 apiece on a lay-in by Speller with 5:10 remaining in the game.

Bladensburg responded with a 6-0 run of its own, however, and lead 46-40 with three minutes to go. Northwestern had one run left, though, and took its first lead on a put-back by Joe Johnson with 1:30 to play.

Trailing 52-50, Bladensburg had a good shot to tie the game on an inbounds play under its own basket with 8.9 seconds to go, but Reed-LaFortune was stripped as he went for a lay-up by Northwestern's Josh Hayes.

"I knew that the inbound man was going to throw the ball in to him, because he did it the whole game," Hayes said. "I was just waiting for the right chance and the right time to take it, and it came at a good time at the end of the game."

Northwestern sophomore guard Josh Johnson was fouled with 4.4 seconds to go, and after Reed-LaFortune was assessed a technical foul, Johnson stepped to the foul line with four opportunities to put the game away. He only made one, but Bladensburg turned the ball over in transition and fouled Price, setting up the dramatic finish.

"It's a character builder," Burke said of the win. "Great teams finish games, good teams just play. The 4A's wide open. There are going to be battles like this all the time. This was the test tonight: that we've got stay in it the entire game and fight through."

Be sure to click the play button on the photo above to view video highlights from Tuesday's game.

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SCORING SUMMARY

Team

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Final

Northwestern

13

8

13

19

53

Bladensburg

11

18

11

10

50

NORTHWESTERN  SCORERS

Players

Points

Nick Speller

15

Joe Johnson

11

Joshua Hayes

7

John Johnson

6

Jalen Prince

4

Joshua Farmer

4

Clayton Higginbotham

2

Javon Shipp

2

BLADENSBURG SCORERS

Player

Points

Greg Reed-LaFortune

19

Alex Taylor

19

Khalil Fletcher

5

Diego Williams

2

Elijah Smith

2

Ruben Tucker

2

OTHER STATS

Team

Category

Northwestern

Three-point field goals

Speller 1

Bladensburg

Three-point field goals

Reed-LaFortune 1, Taylor 1

Northwestern

Total fouls

20

Bladensburg

Total Fouls

26

Bladensburg

Fouled Out

Taylor

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