What an electric atmosphere in Cape St. Claire Friday night as then-No. 10 Arundel (now No. 8) stunned host and then-No. 7 (now No. 10) Broadneck, 68-67 on "The Shot" by Bakari Ward.
Ward's 50-footer as time expired lifted the Wildcats over the Bruins in a matchup of the county's top two boys basketball teams.
"That was the most exciting atmosphere we've ever had in our gym. What a game," said Broadneck assistant athletic director Tim McMullen, who has been at the school since it opened in 1981.
Even better than some of those epic battles with Annapolis in the late '80s when the likes of Kenny Wood, Matt Campbell and Boris Beck played for the Bruins?
"Maybe so. I thought about some of those games," said McMullen. "But [Friday], it was an unforgettable high school game, especially in the final period."
We see those kinds of shots like Ward made all the time on TV highlights, but there is nothing quite like being there.
No matter what he does the rest of his high school career, Ward always will be remembered for "The Shot."
People won't remember that Broadneck's Johnny Williams held the county's leading scorer scoreless through three periods.
With 19 leads in the game, emotions and tension were running high. But when it comes to crowd control, nobody does it better than Broadneck.
I've watched a few really tense games at Broadneck this season, and principal Linda Blackman, McMullen and the other Bruin chaperones are on top of everything. They quash potential problems before they start.
The Broadneck fans were chanting "hey, hey goodbye" to Arundel before "The Shot" by Ward froze nearly everyone in the gym for a split second.
When it hit nothing but net, Arundel and its fans went nuts while the Bruin faithful stared in disbelief.
"It really helped that Arundel's AD, Bernie Walter, was at that game and as soon as it ended, he stood right in front of his team and crowd, and I stood in front of ours," said McMullen.
"Having an AD or assistant AD from the other school at the away site might be something we should do every game."
McMullen also announced that the times for Friday's boys and girls doubleheader with South River at Broadneck have been changed.
"We're going back to the traditional, boys at 7:30 and girls at 5.30," said McMullen.
The only negative last Friday at Broadneck was the Bruins' "Step Squad" overstepping its bounds. It performed a halftime routine that was too long.
With the players from both teams waiting to warm up, the Step Squad was getting off the court with only 2:20 left at the break. Another five minutes was tacked on for the guys to warm up, but it's not fair to the players or fans.
Broadneck is far and away the top seed in the Class 3A East Region with a playoff points average of 6.35. Baltimore's Douglass is the distant runner-up at 4.84.
Jason Smith's 22 points against Arundel put the Bruins' four-year starter within 28 of becoming the fourth county player to reach the 1,500-point milestone. Smith took 1,472 into last night's game at Glen Burnie.
Southern's Vince Barnett (1988-91) owns the county record of 1,823 points, and fellow Bulldog and two-time Player of the Year Chatney Howard (1992-94) is second with 1,582.
Former Andover standout Steve Stielper (1974-76) is third with 1,502 but owns the county career average record of 33.04.
The late James Butler of Annapolis, the Anne Arundel County Sun Player of the '80s Decade, scored nearly 1,200 points.
He was the only other county player to average 30. Butler's average was 30.9.
Davis cracks a milestone
How about congrats to No. 13 St. Mary's Annetta Davis, who cracked the 1,000 milestone in career rebounds last week against Mount De Sales?
Davis, a 5-foot-10 senior forward, also has more than 1,000 career points.
