Sophomore point guard Todd Galloway carried City to a 60-52 victory over host Wilde Lake in the quarterfinals of the Class 3A East Region playoffs yesterday.

Galloway, surrounded by four senior starters, had 36 points, six rebounds and five assists.

City, seeking its third straight trip to College Park, will play Edmondson at City at 7 p.m. tomorrow in the semifinals.

It was the second straight year that City (17-6) eliminated Wilde Lake (12-9), which had won 12 of its past 15 Howard County games and led until 1: 12 was left in the third quarter.

Galloway made five of six free throws to end the third quarter and put the Knights up 35-32. He was 13 of 19 at the line for the game. And he scored 25 of City's 41 second-half points.

Free throws proved crucial. City was 22-for-31 at the line; Wilde Lake was 11-for-12.

Nearly every time down the floor in the second half, Galloway drove to the basket. His drive with 6: 39 left in the fourth quarter fouled out Wilde Lake's most indispensable player, point guard Chad Fawcett.

"He's the best guard I ever played against," said Fawcett, who had not fouled out all season. "He made every critical play and free throw for them. He's worlds apart from the ordinary quick guard. He can finish everything. I did everything I possibly could to make every play difficult, but he has such composure. He'll take them a long way."

After Hugo Linares made a baseline jumper for Wilde Lake, City led only 44-42 with 3: 04 to play.

Galloway then had two of his rare misses at the foul line, but Austin Baker (six points, 12 rebounds) rebounded the second miss and scored. And Ryan Galloway (eight points, eight rebounds) scored off a rebound with 2: 27 left for a 48-42 City lead.

Todd Galloway, who averages 17 points, scored on a drive for a 50-42 lead. And then he made six of eight free throws down the stretch.

"That was Todd's best game as a point guard," City coach Daryl Wade said. "He was our offense. We played a very poor first half."

Indeed, Wilde Lake led by as many as 12 points in the second quarter, 23-11. But City went on an 8-2 run to end that quarter and trail 24-19 at halftime.

"After the first quarter, I hoped we could beat them," Wilde Lake coach Frank Rhodes said. "They beat us with one player. They did cover our three-point shooters pretty well."

Dulaney 61, No. 7 Mervo 58: Senior Romas Krywonis had 28 points and 17 rebounds, and sophomore Scott Headd's 17 points included five three-pointers, as Dulaney overcame a 10-point halftime deficit to shock Mervo, 61-58, in overtime of a Class 4A North Region quarterfinal last night at Dulaney.

The Lions (15-8) next will play No. 6 Southern (15-5) at 5 p.m. tomorrow at Dunbar.

No. 5 Meade 59, No. 2 Annapolis 56: JoJo Whitaker, a 5-foot-6 junior guard playing just his ninth game with Meade (22-2), made a pair of three-pointers in overtime to lift the Mustangs over the Panthers (22-2) in the Class 4A East quarterfinals.

His first three-pointer opened overtime and the game-winner came with eight seconds left.

Pub Date: 3/02/99