Wilson Free Throws Boost Owings Mills Past New Town in Region Finals (PHOTOS)

Standing at the foul line with less than a second to play, the score tied and the outcome of the game weighing squarely on his shoulders, Owings Mills’ Ahmaad Wilson made certain he focused, bent his knees and maintained his mechanics.

The sophomore guard said he also thought about his favorite player, Chicago Bulls guard Derrick Rose, who missed a key free throw that cost his University of Memphis Tigers the national title in 2008.

However, unlike Rose, Wilson cleanly buried his pair of free throws to put the Eagles on top 55-53 after earning the trip to the line by drawing contact from New Town senior Tavon Geter en route to the hoop.

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While Owings Mills will certainly take the win and the trip to Comcast Center however it can get it, New Town understandably questioned the referee’s decision to award Wilson the foul shot after Geter’s cross-body hack appeared to come up with a lot of the ball.

“It was very frustrating, very frustrating,” said New Town junior Jalen Clarke, who drilled a three from the top of the key with about 15 seconds to play to knot the score at 53. “They should’ve let the game be in our hands instead of them deciding the game.”

Titans head coach Mike Salapata agreed, although he did concede that his squad could have done more earlier to not put themselves in that spot.  

“I came from the school of, when it’s tied at the end of the game, short of blood, you are not calling a foul there. I thought the foul call was poor to say the least,” Salapata said. “But at the end of the day you’re always taught to handle your business. If we make our free throws, rebound and do the little things then we don’t put ourselves in that position.” 

To Salapata’s point, New Town really hurt its own cause by shooting 8 of 22 from the charity stripe for the game.  

For Owings Mills, the key was 6’5 forward Kyle Thomas who netted a game-high 19 points to go along with eight boards and paced the Eagles early on when their perimeter shooters couldn’t find their touch. Owings Mills went scoreless from beyond the arc in the first half.

However, the Eagles connected on four triples in the second half, including a huge corner three-ball by senior Isaac Brown that gave his squad a 51-47 lead with two minutes to play, sending the crowd into its most boisterous roar of the night.

“It was electric. It does not get any better than this,” Brown said. “That’s what we live for, the impulse, the pressure—and the ability to go out and perform in that type of atmosphere feels great.”

After an Austin Eber lay-in extended the lead to six, the Titans were able to erase the deficit with three free throws plus Clarke’s clutch three-pointer in just 70 seconds, before Wilson ultimately won the game at the line.

“I had all the confidence in Ahmaad,” Brown said. “It was a big shot and no one can ever take that away from him.”  

Wilson, in his first year at Owings Mills and new to the cross-town rivalry, underplayed the fanatical atmosphere and just what was at stake. He, along with all of his teammates relished the idea of making it to College Park by way of beating New Town.

“This is what we wanted the whole year,” said Wilson, who finished with 11 points and eight boards. “I told Tyson [Smith] that this is just a regular game with the word championship on the side.”

BOX SCORE

Owings Mills 55, New Town 53

OM 10 11 14 20 -- 55

NT  9 12  18 14 -- 53

OM: Kyle Thomas 19, Tyson Smith 13, Ahmaad Wilson 11, Isaac Brown 5, Carjahn Jenkins 5, Austin Eber 2

NT: Tavon Geter 18, Devonte Coleman 12, Malcolm Brown 10, Jalen Clarke 10, Jerrod Lemon 2, Devan Jones 1.

Halftime: 21-21