DETROIT - Curtis Jones, arguably the greatest player to ever play in the city, will not be walking through the doors of Northwestern to play basketball, but the Colts will take Terrance Sewell. The senior guard led the Colts' upset of defending city, and state champion, Western, with an offensive put-back as time expired for the 64-63 win. Sewell finished the game with 28 points and 14 rebounds, to help Northwestern advance to the city semifinals for the first time since they won it all in 2008.

Northwestern stormed the court as the final buzzer sounded, as if it were March Madness, and they had just upset a No.1 seed. But for Sewell and his team, the celebration was a well deserved one, since many picked them to lose even before the games had started.

"We've been talking about this game all week," Sewell said. "We felt like the underdogs, with everybody picking Western. We even seen M-Live saying that Western was going to play East English or Henry Ford, so that just motivated us even more."

Northwestern was able to keep the game close throughout, thanks to the play of Sewell, and junior guard, Kylan Shipp, who had 18 points himself. Northwestern only trailed by one at the half, and had all the confidence in the world that they could pull off the unthinkable. Western's best player, Brailen Neely, did not score until the fourth quarter, Sewell and Shipp were both playing well, and the game was playing into Northwestern's hands.

"We were confident the whole game," said Sewell "We came into this game knowing that we were going to beat them."

It took some work down the stretch, but Sewell was right. Western held a 63-59 lead with 45.5 seconds left in the game, but a scrappy Northwestern team refused to go away. Darwin Wise hit a huge 3-pointer to pull the Colts within one with 10.6 seconds remaining. Northwestern fouled Karim Murray, who missed the first free throw on a 1-and-1 attempt. Northwestern raced down the floor, and after three attempts at the win, Sewell gently tapped in the fourth attempt to put Northwestern ahead. The Colts bench stormed the court, while a stunned Western bench looked on in disbelief.

"We never quit," said Northwestern head coach Matt Blount. "We never do, and that's one thing I tried to instill in these guys, because they come from such poverty-stricken neighborhoods, so you can't give up on yourself, can't give up on life, and you have to keep pushing.

"Sewell is one hell of a player, and I wish I could have coached him all four years."

No one predicted Northwestern to be in the final four, but they are, and Sewell said it is not by accident. Sure, it is only a quarterfinal win, but it means so much more to a program of kids who had never won anything. The win over Western just pushed them one step closer to winning the school's 17th city title.

"This is probably the biggest win we've had in our high school careers," said Sewell. "Hopefully we can keep this going, and get to Calihan Hall."

Northwestern will play the winner of the East English Village Prep and Henry Ford game in the city semifinals on Friday at Cass Tech at 7:30 p.m. The title game is February 19 at Detroit-Mercy's Calihan Hall at 7:30 p.m.