Muhammad has 41 points to lead Gaels over Clark

Bishop Gorman’s Shabazz Muhammad is widely considered the nation’s top high school boys basketball player.

He looked the part on Friday night.

Muhammad had 41 points and 18 rebounds to lead the top-ranked Gaels to an 80-68 road win over No. 4 Clark for first place in the Southwest League.

“I didn’t get it going early, but I started to free up and my teammates started looking for me and got me involved in the offense, and we came up with a big win tonight,” Muhammad said.

Muhammad missed his first four shots and had just two points in the first quarter as Clark (15-3, 6-1 Southwest) took a 21-12 lead.

Clark freshman Colby Jackson hit a 3-pointer from the right wing to start the second quarter and give the Chargers a 24-12 advantage.

But that’s when Muhammad went to work. He had 18 points and seven rebounds in the second quarter to help the Gaels (12-3, 7-0) to a 46-36 lead at the half.

“When they’re double-teaming me and triple-teaming me, it’s going to be hard to score off the dribble, so I need to find other ways to score with rebounds and other stuff,” Muhammad said.

Gorman turned the ball over seven times in the first quarter and the Chargers took advantage, knocking down 3 of 6 3-pointers against Gorman’s 2-3 zone. But the Gaels had just one turnover in the second quarter as they took the lead.

“When you turn the ball over five or six times, it’s tough to have a lead,” Gorman coach Grant Rice said. “But we settled down in the second quarter and the rest of the game.”

Clark hung around, and cut the lead to 62-56 on a drive by Sir Washington with 4:58 to play.

But Muhammad scored the next four points to push the lead back to 10. He scored 17 points in the fourth quarter and finished 13-for-23 from the field. He was 15-for-16 from the foul line.

“I’ve seen him score 40 before, but what I’m really impressed with is the 18 rebounds,” Rice said. “His field goal percentage this year is about 67 percent, which is just incredible. He’s efficient. He’s not taking bad shots this year, so it’s really helped.”

Gorman got a boost from the return of 6-foot-8-inch senior Ben Carter, who has signed with Oregon.

Carter had been out with a stress fracture in his right foot and logged his first minutes of the season, finishing with four points and five rebounds before fouling out with
1:25 to play.

“It was amazing,” Carter said. “I missed the game of basketball so much, and getting back and being able to compete with my team, it was great.”

Carter said it was especially tough to see his team lose three games without him, but hopes the team can finish strong, beginning with a matchup at DeMatha (Md.) on Monday. DeMatha is ranked No. 3 in the nation by USA Today.

“It was definitely frustrating after all the work we put in in the offseason, and then letting my team down with the three losses we had,” Carter said. “I had to fight through it and get healthy, and hopefully we can finish strong.”

Sir Washington had 23 points, and Kentrell Washington added 19 points, five rebounds and five assists for Clark.