Buzzer-beating dunk lifts Northwestern boys’ basketball to comeback win and GMAC title
Sky high.
That’s the direction Miami Northwestern guard Isaisah McKenney’s alley-oop inbound pass to teammate Dwight Carter went.
And that’s where, according to McKenney, the Bulls’ boys’ basketball team’s confidence is after Carter threw that lob down emphatically for a buzzer-beating dunk, which lifted Northwestern to a thrilling 52-50 victory over host Miami High on Saturday night in the GMAC championship game.
“That was the first time we’ve done that to win a game and Coach drew it up perfect to win the game,” McKenney said. “I saw Dwight and threw it up there for him and he went up and got it. I had faith he could do it.”
McKenney did not score a point in Saturday’s game.
But it didn’t matter as his most important contribution was finding the mark perfectly as he hit Carter in stride, allowing him to grab the lob quickly with both hands and slam it home as time expired.
Carter said after the game that he and McKenney had tried the play before in practice, but it never worked.
“That was the first time it worked,” Carter said. “I just saw the ball and I just went up and I finished. This gives us confidence. We had confidence from the start, but we just had to execute.”
Northwestern (18-3) erased a 16-point first-half deficit and secured victory in the closing seconds to secure what is believed to be its first GMAC title in at least two decades. Columbus, ranked No. 1 in the nation, had won the past three GMAC titles, but chose not to participate in this year’s tournament.
The Bulls have won eight in a row, beat Miami High for the second time this season, and have not lost to a team from South Florida. They are in the midst of one of their best seasons since they last advanced to the state final four in 2006. Northwestern entered the week as the second-highest ranked team in the state in Class 4A per the FHSAA’s power rankings behind only St. Petersburg Gibbs, and ranked 14th overall.
“We’re gelling at the right time and that’s how my teams usually do at this point during my career,” said Northwestern coach Melvin Randall, who is in his fourth season coaching the Bulls after a historic 28-year combined coaching run at Blanche Ely and Deerfield Beach during which he won a state-record nine state championships.
Randall is hoping to make it double digits at Northwestern and end a long basketball title drought at a school known mainly for its storied football program. The Bulls advanced to the state semifinals five times from 2000-2006, but never advanced past that round.
A few more resilient performances like the one the Bulls delivered on Saturday could lead to that elusive state championship.
Trailing 50-46 with a minute left, Carter connected on 1 of 2 free throws. After a turnover gave Northwestern the ball back, Calvin Russell Jr. drove to the basket and tied the game with a three-point play with 26.6 seconds remaining.
Miami High again turned the ball over and Bulls guard Zack Dawson dribbled across halfcourt, but came to a stop and called a timeout with 0.6 seconds remaining. Northwestern then ran the winning play, which Randall said his assistant coach Lamont Evans drew up.
“We have a play called ‘North Carolina’ and we throw it in there when needed and it was needed tonight,” Randall said. “We wanted him to call timeout right there so that we could set that up.”
Russell, a 2026 four-star wide receiver prospect in football rated No. 1 in the state, led the Bulls with 18 points while Carter had 16 points. Dawson also had 12 points as Northwestern had only four players score.
Aaron Richard scored the first 10 points of the game for Miami High (18-4) and led the Stingarees with 19 while Joseph Jean had 17 points.
Miami High appeared to seize control of the game early on, breaking a 10-10 tie with a 17-1 surge. But the Bulls gradually cut the deficit and took a 44-42 lead on a Russell layup with 5:36 left in the fourth quarter.
“It was just momentum,” McKenney said. “Coach snapped at us at halftime and he just got us to play the right way (in the second half). Our confidence is sky high right now.”
This story was originally published January 25, 2025 at 10:08 PM.
