High School

Largo's Cam Ward wins Maryland Gatorade Player of the Year

Ward capped his senior season with multiple accolades, including Maryland Gatorade Player of the Year and MPSSAA 2A state champion

Harry Lichtman

Michigan State commit Cam Ward capped his brilliant high school career by helping Largo win the MPSSAA Class 2A state championship by scoring 68 points over the final three rounds of the state tournament.
Michigan State commit Cam Ward capped his brilliant high school career by helping Largo win the MPSSAA Class 2A state championship by scoring 68 points over the final three rounds of the state tournament. / Derek Toney

It was announced Thursday that Largo basketball senior forward Cam Ward was named the 2025 Maryland Gatorade Player of the Year.

Ward also won the prestigious award last year, making him the third player with back-to-back awards (Jalen Smith, Mt. St. Joe's, 2017-18, and Rodney Monroe, Goretti, 1986-87).

It's just another accolade to cap Ward's high school career, which includes winning back-to-back MPSSAA 2A boys basketball state championships. On March 14, the Upper Marlboro native helped the Lions beat New Town for the 2025 2A state title.

Ward scored 39 or more points five times this season, including a career-high 45 points in a win over College Park Academy on Dec. 17. On March 5, Ward became Maryland high school basketball's all-time public school leading scorer, surpassing Mike Roberts of Pocomoke. The Largo senior finishes his high school basketball career with 2,714 points.

Ward played all four years of high school basketball under his father and head coach Rodney Ward. Cam's younger brother Canaan also plays for Largo's boys basketball team, and their mother, Ayana Ball-Ward, is the school's athletic director and girls basketball head coach.

Ward will be heading off to college to play for Tom Izzo at Michigan State University. Regarded as the No. 56 prospect in the class of 2025 according to 247Sports, the Largo senior signed with Michigan State over offers from various other schools such as Marquette, Maryland, Texas and Villanova.

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Harry Lichtman
HARRY LICHTMAN

Harry Lichtman is a sports reporter based in Montgomery County, MD and the DC area. He also writes for Capitals Outsider and LastWordOnSports, and previously wrote for MLB Report, The Sports Pulse, the Baltimore Jewish Times, the Montgomery County Sentinel, and The Bottom Line newspaper at Frostburg State University. In 2020, Harry won an MDDC Press award for a story about former high school lacrosse head coach Jeff Fritz. Harry has been writing since 2016.

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