No. 14 C. Milton Wright boys basketball claims resilient 57-53 road win at No. 9 Lake Clifton

Dec. 21—By Glenn Graham — glenn.graham@baltsun.com

PUBLISHED:December 21, 2023 at 8:35 p.m.| UPDATED:December 21, 2023 at 8:36 p.m.

It was only a nonconference road win for C. Milton Wright boys basketball on Thursday, but the No. 14 Mustangs believed the extra excitement at game's end — stirring playoff-like jubilation — was plenty warranted.

Traveling to perennial Baltimore City and state power Lake Clifton, they matched the No. 9 Lakers' long-proven grind. The Mustangs forged ahead with a late third-quarter push and answered every surge from the home team in the fourth quarter to claim a confidence-boosting 57-53 win.

Tough defense, strong rebounding and balanced scoring proved the right mix as C. Milton Wright improved to 6-0 on the season.

"The message today was stay together and compete," Mustangs coach Mario Scott said. "We live by the four C's — communicate, connect, compete and most importantly consistency. We drill that in practice, we do situational work to hopefully prepare for times like this. You never quite know what it's going to look like when the lights really come on and I couldn't be prouder of the guys and how they responded."

In a tightly contested game with no significant runs by either team, the Mustangs enjoyed a spurt deep into the third quarter.

Jordan Ross found Dylan Sander with a long outlet pass that produced an easy basket for a 34-31 lead with 1:59 left in the quarter. Kyle Ashman won a fight for a rebound underneath, got it up and in and was fouled for a three-point play that made it 37-31. And then Ashman made an extra inside pass to Sander for another score that put the Mustangs up 39-31 going into the fourth quarter.

The Lakers would get close midway through the fourth quarter — twice cutting the lead to two — but Mustangs senior Larry Thompson had a vital minute-plus stretch of offense. On three straight possessions, he made nothing-but-net jumpers — the last coming with 3:26 to play for a 47-43 advantage.

In the final 2:45, the Mustangs made 8 of 9 free throws and got a basket from Sander to spoil the Lakers' comeback plan. Ashman and Cayne Woodland each scored 11 points, Sander had 10 and Thompson scored eight of his nine points in the second half for the winners.

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"I wasn't doing well in the first half and had to come out with more energy and play with my team and all that, get the buckets for my team and work hard for them," Thompson said. "This is very big for us — I love it. Love the energy."

C. Milton Wright will close out the 2023 portion of its schedule at Great Mills next Thursday. Sander said the poised road performance will go a long way this season.

"We knew going to practice yesterday we had a big game and we had to put all the effort we had into it before going into the holiday break," he said. "So it was 100% effort. Everybody was part of it. It gives us a lot of confidence."

The Lakers, who fell to 4-3, got a game-high 17 points from Jazae Jones, including seven in the fourth quarter, while Jalyn Kennedy added 12 and Jermel Miles finished with 10.

"My hats off to them — they came here prepared to play," Lake Clifton coach Herman "Tree" Harried said of the Mustangs. "The atmosphere didn't bother them any and they outplayed us at both ends — offensively and defensively. They took it to us today in front of our home crowd."

CMW — Woodland 11, Ross 9, Ashman 11, Madden 5, Thompson 9, Sander 10, Holcomb 2. Totals: 19 13-18 57

LC — Jones 17, McPherson 5, Miles 10, Kennedy 12, Shird 4, Sewell 5. Totals: 17 10-18

Half: LC, 25-22

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