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High Point's Corey Baker finished with a game-high 20 points in leading his team to a victory.
By James A. McCray III
Prince George's County, Content Manager
After the High Point Eagles defeated the Northwestern Wildcats Thursday night 58-53 in a conference boys' basketball contest, High Point head coach Ronald Moore went looking for one of his players, Corey Baker.
As Moore found Baker walking into the locker room, he grabbed Baker and yelled at him. Yet, the words were not of anger but of sheer excitement and joy.
He said to Baker, "That's how you lead the team; that is how you step up and be a leader."
That, after a 20-point performance from Baker including 14 points in the second half of a game in which the Eagles fought back from an early 14-0 deficit to start the game.
"Today he showed that he is a man," Moore said of Baker. "I am so proud of this kid. He showed tonight that he is a man and a leader, and I am proud of him and that effort he gave us tonight."
High Point (3-4) found itself attempting to climb out of a hole throughout the better parts of the game. However, coming out of the half and turning the notch up on defense, High Point cut an eight-point Northwestern halftime lead to only 2 points at 33-31.
The deficit remained at two points until High Point's Andre Brooks (nine points) hit a three-point shot to give the Eagles its first lead of the game with 2 minutes 40 seconds left in the third period.
As the defense held strong, it was Baker encouraging teammates, talking strategy with the coaching staff, and not to mention scoring during the most critical moments of the game.
"I loved the effort from all of my teammates tonight, everybody gave 150 percent." Baker said, "We dug ourselves in the hole, but we showed that we could get ourselves out of one if we keep on working."
Working is in fact what the Eagles continued to do as the two teams battled to three ties and three lead changes from the 2:40 mark through the early parts of the fourth quarter.
Northwestern (0-4) opened up a five-point lead to begin the fourth period but a three-point shot from High Point's Ben Minah --off of the bench-- cut the lead back down to 41-39.
As Northwestern netted a free throw, Minah came back down court and hit another three to tie the game at 42-42 giving the Eagles all the momentum they would need heading into the later stages of the fourth.
"I got up there and kind of had to fill in the blanks," Minah said. "Unfortunately, we're missing Travis [Baker] today, but we were able to fill in the blanks and get it going."
"Ben just doesn't have the confidence in himself, yet," Moore admitted. "Once he gets that confidence and realizes his potential, he is going to be a good one. ... He hit two huge threes. Those were huge for us at the time. [Northwestern] was making its run and those threes [kept us in the game]."
Minah finished with nine points including coming off of the bench late in the fourth quarter to knock down two free throws in place of an injured player to stretch the lead to 47-43.
Baker gave High Point the lead for good after a made free throw put the Eagles on top 44-43, a lead they would not relinquish.
The Wildcats added extra suspense to the contest as Kahlil Tate knocked down a three-pointer with 27.5 seconds remaining to cut the lead to 54-53, but the Eagles were able to convert free throws to secure the victory.
Tate finished with 16 points leading Northwestern.
"I think we just let them off the hook," Northwestern head coach Jeff Lindsey said. "We stopped doing the things that actually got us the lead. We stopped attacking and started settling for outside shots."
Lindsey took over for Michael Byrd who was initially named interim coach after previous head coach Gerald Moore passed away. As Byrd relinquished the head-coaching duties, he still remains as an assistant on staff.
As the Wildcats still look to earn its first win, they are also coping with the loss of Moore.
"They are a good group," Lindsey said. "The boys are strong-minded and I am quite sure, dealing with the loss that we are dealing with, that they will bounce back. It just has been a tough day for them all around. ... They are good, they have their heads up."
tmccray@digitalsports.com
High Point 58, Northwestern 53
Northwestern -- 14 15 9 15; Tate 16, Tabron 12, Thurman 11, Barber-Richards 6, Alexander 3, Calhoun 3, Fon 2
High Point -- 5 16 15 22; C. Baker 20, Minah 9, Brooks 9, Martin 7, Akinbolaji 6, Douglas 3, Ajayi 3, Ojiribe 1
Three-point goals
Northwestern (Tate 4, Alexander, Calhoun)
High Point (Minah 2, Baker)
