For Fairmont Harford, the championship game of the second annual Walter G. Amprey League tournament ended a season of adversity.
Fairmont Harford, one of five Baltimore high schools in the league that provide alternative and special education to city students, won the finals of the tournament over Harbor City Learning Center, 86-65, yesterday at Southwestern.
It was the third time the two schools met this season, with Fairmont (7-1) winning the most important game.
It did it with two assistant coaches and it did it after blowing its halftime lead.
Championship game Most Valuable Player Larry Gilmer scored 27 points and Jamaal Walker added 16 points for Fairmont, which split two January meetings with Harbor (5-3) during the regular season.
"We almost didn't want to practice for those guys," said Gilmer of the two assistant coaches.
"We were really in bad shape. We decided to turn things around and focus on what we had to do to win ballgames."
The coaches, Omar Allen and Ryan Wilkens, told the players one simple thing. "If you don't want to practice you don't play," said Allen. "The kids bonded together with us and everything worked out for us."
The duo finished the season at 6-0 after head coach Ira Mitchell went out sick around Christmas break with sugar diabetes.
"It was rough but we did it," said Gilmer. "I know I didn't want to play at first, but coach Allen helped me along and the rest of the guys. It was tough on everybody."
But they almost didn't get there. Leading 33-27 at halftime, Harbor went on a 11-3 run to start the third period to take a 38-36 lead with 5:38 to play.
Fairmont went to a full-court press and turned the game around, forcing five turnovers during a 11-2 run that gave it the lead for good at 53-42 with 2:54 remaining.
Dedrick Benson (12 points) scored six points during the run and Walker hit a three-pointer to close the run.
"The thing to do is to put pressure on the guards so our front-court guys can make shots," said Benson. "We don't have enough players to practice so [all the] players practice post-up moves and it helps out in big games like this."
The lead jumped to as many as 27 points in the fourth quarter as Fairmont began the period with a 15-2 burst to take a 70-47 edge.
Norman Robinson led Harbor with 17 points.