Not much came easily for the Lake Clifton boys basketball team as it worked its way through the grinding regular season and captured Baltimore City's tough Division I championship.
So when the No. 2 Lakers jumped out to a quick, 12-point first-quarter lead against defending Class 1A state champion Edmondson in the South region final on Monday, they were prepared for anything. When the visiting Red Storm battled back to take the lead in the fourth quarter, the home team showed no panic — instead, the Lakers executed brilliantly in the game's decisive final seconds and celebrated soon after.
Senior forward Derrick Green scored on a transition basket with four seconds left to lift Lake Clifton to a 39-37 win over the No. 11 Red Storm. The Lakers (24-2) will meet Allegany — a 67-49 winner over Manchester Valley in the West region final — in the state semifinals at 3 p.m. Friday at the University of Maryland's Xfinity Center.
"That was the grind of all grinds and we've been saying that all year," Lake Clifton coach Herman "Tree" Harried said. "Edmondson was ready and they came with a great game plan. It was just a tough, hard-fought, physical Baltimore City basketball game and we just made a play down the stretch."
With the game tied at 37 and 10 seconds left, the Red Storm (18-7) had a chance to take the lead with Demitrius Hoskins at the line for two free throws. But he wasn't able to convert either attempts and the Lakers were quick to take advantage.
Forward Rashad Hawkins grabbed the rebound and found point guard Kai Thompson, who alertly passed the ball to Green in stride for the easy layup. After Hoskins' first missed free throw, the Lakers called timeout and ran a play to release Green to get him ahead of the rest.
Hawkins and Gary Jefferson led the Lakers with 10 points each, while Green scored nine, including two of the biggest in his career.
"We just stayed persistent with our effort and hard work and we brought it. We had full faith in each other and got the win. We played a great team and got the win," Green said. "Our crowd was with us and [Hoskins] missed [the second free throw], I sprinted down court and my point guard found me and I laid it up and got the bucket. It feels great."
The Lakers came out strong with their zone defense and hit the boards hard to take a 16-4 lead in the closing seconds of the first quarter, but the Red Storm, which got a game-high 12 points from Keandre Cook, came back in defending-state-championship form. Tywuan Martin hit a 3-pointer at the first quarter buzzer to give the visitors something positive to go into the second quarter, and they tied the game at 22 on Cook's fadeaway jumper with 1:13 to play.
The second half was what has defined Baltimore City basketball throughout the season, with defensive intensity taking center stage.
The Red Storm claimed their first lead late in the third quarter and then took a 36-33 lead on Cook's drive with 5:33 to play. It would be the last field goal for the Red Storm — Cook would hit one free throw — while the Lakers got baskets from Green and Joshua Parks to tie the game at 37 with 2:11 to play.
After the Edmondson forced a turnover with 40 seconds left, it held the ball until Hoskins pulled down a miss by Cook and was fouled. The Red Storm made just 4 of 12 free-throw attempts and the Lakers went 5-for-14.
Lake Clifton won both meetings against Edmondson in the regular season — coming away with a 55-46 home win on Jan. 9 before grinding out a 51-48 road win on Feb. 6. Last year, the Red Storm avenged a regular season loss with a 55-49 win in the region final on its way to capturing the state crown.