Last month Wilde Lake built an 18-point lead but eventually lost to Mount Hebron by five points.
Yesterday at their temporary home at River Hill, however, the Wildecats turned back a fourth-quarter Mount Hebron rally and rode the shoulders of 6-foot-8 1/2 center Carl Jackson to a 50-37 upset victory over the No. 15 Vikings.
The loss dropped Mount Hebron (15-5 overall, 10-2 league) out of a tie for first place with Atholton and forced the Vikings into must-win games against chief rivals Oakland Mills and Atholton next week.
The victory ended a three-game league losing streak by the Wildecats (10-10, 6-6), who consistently have played the top three county teams close this season, but until yesterday always came up on the losing end.
All signs pointed to an upset. Mount Hebron was coming off a one-point victory over last-place Hammond, a team that had lost 15 straight games. And Wilde Lake had nearly upset second-place Oakland Mills Tuesday, losing by one point.
Wilde Lake had beaten Mount Hebron two straight seasons on the Wildecats' home floor and won three of the teams' last four meetings.
And Wilde Lake's Jackson played well Tuesday, scoring 20 against Oakland Mills. Yesterday he outplayed Mount Hebron's All-American center Patrick Ngongba. Jackson scored 19 points, had eight rebounds and blocked seven shots. Ngongba scored nine points and had eight rebounds.
"It was way past time that I step up and hit the shots I should be hitting," Jackson said. "Once I hit my outside jumper it helped the rest of my game. And once I play better the team can feed off me."
Wilde Lake led 36-29 after three quarters. But Mount Hebron went on a 6-1 run to start the fourth quarter, including dunks by Ngongba and Kevin Tonkins (11 points, eight rebounds).
But Jackson scored three points, blocked two shots and had a steal during a fourth-quarter stretch in which the Wildecats' lead went from 37-35 to 46-35.
"If Carl has a good game we do well; if he has a bad game we usually do poorly," said guard Will Edison (13 points). "Today we just got after it on defense. Mount Hebron never got into an offensive rhythm. That loss earlier this season to them was a big motivating factor for us."
Edison limited Mount Hebron's Kurt Jestes to six points. Jestes had scored 20 points in the first game between the teams. It was the first time this season Mount Hebron had scored under 50 points.
Wilde Lake sank 10 free throws in the fourth quarter, including three by Brian Sterling, four by Nick Thomas and one apiece by Edison, Jackson and Aaron Peterson. It was a driving basket by Peterson that started Wilde Lake's game-winning 9-0 run in the fourth quarter.
"When Mount Hebron made its run we didn't lose our intensity," Jackson said. "We came ready to play and knew we could beat this team."
Wilde Lake normally plays a zone defense but switched for Mount Hebron.
"Coach told us before the game to pull up our socks because we're playing man-for-man the entire game," Jackson said. "I think we matched up well against them."