Findlay Prep lives to play another game at ESPN tourney thanks to late rally

By Ray Brewer (contact)

Thursday, April 4, 2013 | 4:45 p.m.

Findlay Prep’s Nigel Williams-Goss scored 13 of his game-high 26 points in the fourth quarter Thursday and the Pilots erased an eight-point fourth quarter deficit against Montrose Christian in the quarterfinals of the ESPN National High School Invitational in North Bethesda, Md., winning their 54th straight game with a 57-53 victory.

Montrose Christian’s Ishmail Wainright, who has signed with Baylor, scored 21 points and hit a halfcourt shot at the halftime buzzer in nearly handing Findlay its first loss since 2011. But Wainright barely played in the fourth quarter with foul trouble and Williams-Goss took off down the stretch.

The Pilots (35-0) trailed by eight points with about five minutes to play, but closed the game on a 21-8 scoring outburst. Williams-Goss, who played last night at the McDonald’s All-American game in Chicago, was the difference maker down the stretch in scoring eight of Findlay’s initial nine points of the fourth quarter. He was clearly tired from traveling all day to Maryland, but didn’t let it hinder his play late.

The Washington-committed Williams-Goss also got his teammates involved, driving to the basket late in the game to draw a pair of defenders and dishing to Gavin Schilling for an easy basket and two separate plays.

Findlay will play in the semifinals against St. Benedict’s at 1:30 p.m. Friday on ESPN2.

Ray Brewer can be reached at 990-2662 or [email protected]. Follow Ray on Twitter at twitter.com/raybrewer21.