Unfortunately I was not able to attend day 1 at the 14th Annual Basketball Academy played at Morgan State where Mervo defeated Randallstown, Dunbar beat Woodlawn and parkville edged Douglass, but I was lucky enough to be there for day 2, and thank god for that! Here is a recap of todays games at Morgan.

Digital Harbor 49 Milford Mill 47

In the first game of the day #10 ranked Digital Harbor(10-3) got an off balance, fall away bucket from Davon Usher as time expired to pull off the upset over #5 Milford Mill(10-3) 49-47. Usher led Digital with 19 points while Justin Jackson added 17. Jimmy Hamilton led Milford with 14 pts, and Tevin Hanner chipped in 13.

Digital jumped out to an early lead but Milford got a dunk by Hamilton and a basket from Isaiah McCray to end the 1st with a 14-10 lead. Milford led by as much as 7 in the 2nd before Digital went on a 8-1 run, behind 6 pts. from Usher, to end the quarter and at halftime the two teams were deadlocked at 26. Milford controlled the 3rd thanks to a 7-0 run that was capped off by a McCray dunk and led going into the final quarter 39-34. Milford led by 7 before Jackson hit a 3 and Usher scored to get the Rams within 2 at 41-39. Usher converted on 2 free throws with 1:10 left to tie the game at 47 and set up the amazing finish.

With seconds remaining and the score tied Jackson took a shot from the right corner but came up short. Jimmy Hamilton rebounded and as he was driving up the court to get a last second shot off he lost the ball out of bounds, which left Digital with the ball near mid court with 1.9 seconds remaining. Jackson threw an alley oop pass to Usher underneath, who caught the ball in traffic, went to the floor, and as he was falling away from the basket, and towards the ground, threw up a shot in desperation. As the buzzer sounded the ball went through the hoop, and Digital was victorious. It was just a sign of things to come.

Lake Clifton 78 Ballou 76

In the opening game of the year for both teams Ballou(DC) defeated Lake Clifton 68-54. Tonight the Lakers got their revenge as these two teams gave us the most entertaining game of the evening as the Lakers(6-3), thanks to Josh Selby, defeated the Knights 78-76 in overtime. Selby scored 44 points, and scored the game winner with 2 seconds remaining on a frantic end to end drive. Donte Thomas(29pts) led a more balanced Ballou(12-3) squad with 29 points as he and Selby went mano vs. mano in the overtime.

Selby opened with 10 in the 1st quarter as Lake was in control early until Zalmico Harmon(11pts) hit a half court three at the buzzer to cut the Laker lead to 20-16. Thomas took over in the 2nd with 9 pts. and at the half Ballou led 38-37. Ballou started to take command in the 3rd as Thomas, Christian Leach(16pts) and Marquis Gentry(14pts) each scored 5 pts in the quarter and the Knights led 57-51 after three.

The 4th quarter was when Selby took over. Lake went on a 9-4 run to open the 4th, behind 5 from Selby, to close within 61-60 with 5 minutes remaining. Selby then ignited the local crowd with an end to end run capped off with a dynamic slam. Trailing 66-65 with 1:18 to go Selby drove the lane, scored and got fouled. After he made his foul shot Lake led 68-66, but Thomas immediately answered and the game was tied at 68, which is where it would end up at the end of regulation.

Overtime was Selby vs. Thomas and Josh got the last shot. Each guy scored 6 pts. in ot, but it was Josh who got the last word. The score was tied at 76 when Ballou missed a jumper, Selby then got a hold of the ball at the Ballou foul line. He then drove the length of the court and went between 2 defenders to score the game winner with 2 seconds remaining.

City 82 Longwood 68

In the craziest game of the night, the City Black Nights(10-0) overcame a 20 point deficit against one of the top teams from NY, Longwood(9-1) to win easily.

At the end of the 1st quarter Longwood led 31-13, and at halftime it was 45-26. In the 1st qt. Longwood shot 12-15 from the field and was 7-8 from 3pt range. At the half the Lions were 16-24, but thatw would not last. In the 3rd quarter City outscored Longwood 30-9 as Nick Faust(8pts) and Michael Cheatum(14) took over the game and combined for 22 points. City ended the 3rd with 56-54 lead. City completed the comeback as Faust and Cheatum converted 12 of 15 foul shots in the waning moments to coast to the 14 point victory.

Cheatum finished with 27 pts., Faust 25 and Jordan Latham ended up with 17 pts and 15 rebounds.

Darien Davis led Longwood with 27 points. Chris Green was 4-4 on three pointers in the 1st quarter for 12 points, yet scored nothing after that. After going 7-8 from three point land in that 1st quarter the Lions went 1-13 the rest of the game.