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Saturday, December 23, 2000
Northwestern It was about as ugly a win as you can expect in prep basketball. But unranked Northwestern High of Miami took the 2000 Iolani Prep Classic last night.
claims title in
Iolani Classic
The team from Miami
beats two nationally ranked
teams in a rowBy Pat Bigold
Star-BulletinThe Bulls (8-1) did it by beating Montrose Christian, 50-48, in overtime -- their second consecutive upset of a nationally ranked team.
"They're (Montrose Christian) such a good team that if you beat them it's gonna be ugly," said Northwestern head coach Baronton Terry, whose Bulls missed shots, blew layups, made bad passes and stalled for over 2 minutes at the end of regulation time.
"We were outsized, but we hustled," said Terry.
Montrose, based in Rockville, Md., was ranked No. 16 by USA Today and No. 4 in preseason by HighWiredSports.com
Northwestern, which is 2-1 against ranked teams this season, knocked off No. 9 (USA Today) De La Salle of Concord, Calif., on Thursday night in the semifinals.
Winsome Frazier, a 6-foot-3 guard-forward who has committed to play for Mississippi State, led Northwestern with 14 points, while Levi Watkins, a 6-9 senior forward, led Montrose with 22.
Northwestern point guard Joel Brown was named the classic's MVP. The Mustangs led, 26-22, at the half as Watkins scored 13 of his points, nine coming in the second quarter.
He scored five in a row to give his team a 31-24 lead to start the second half. But a pair of free throws by Cedrick McGowan and a 3-pointer by Tywan Byrd reeled in the Mustangs once again. The third quarter ended with Montrose ahead, 35-32.
The Mustangs had a 41-35 lead in the fourth quarter but an 8-2 run, capped by another Byrd trey, tied it at 43-43.
That's when the Bulls stalled, with three bad shots under the basket in the final seven seconds.
Northwestern took a 48-45 lead in OT on Carlton Williams' 3-pointer. Dominique Smallwood's steal and layup tied it at 48-48 with 31 seconds left.
Troy Hailey then stole the ball for Montrose and passed to Tony Bethel (committed to Georgetown), who went down the lane for what he hoped would be the go-ahead basket.
That's where the 5-11 Williams met him with a swat block that put the ball in the hands of Byrd. The 6-2 senior came down the sideline one-on-one and launched a short baseline jumper for the game-winner with four seconds left.
"They were the hunter and we were the hunted tonight." said Montrose coach Stu Vetter, who entered the season with a 579-69 career record. He has been head coach of four different teams at the Iolani Classic in the last 10 years.
In earlier games:
St. Joseph Notre Dame High School of Alameda, Calif., defeated Iolani, 43-39. Donovan Brewer led the Raiders with 13 points.
De La Salle beat Roman Catholic of Philadelphia, Pa., 53-42, on Charles Brown's 14 points.
Crossroads High School of Santa Monica, Calif. edged Kamehameha, 35-34, as Kolo Kapanui scored 18 points for the Warriors.
Radford beat Leilehua, 59-54. Kula Tanuvasa had 18 for the Rams while Eric Marshall had a game-high 20 for the Mules.
Hilo, the 2000 Hawaii High School Athletic Association champion, edged Okinawa Select, 61-60, behind Tim Toomey's 16 points.
Castele defeated Moanalua, 35-32, as Ikaika Bruhn scored 10 points.
Maryknoll defeated Maui, 68-55, behind Ryan Hirata's 14.