FURIOUS FINISHER
Mount Saint Joseph finds answers from freshman Tucker to hold off Calvert Hall
On a rare night this season when its senior trio wasn’t playing at top form, the Mount Saint Joseph basketball team turned to another reliable source to push past visiting Calvert Hall.
Freshman Bryson Tucker, who has flashed all season, proved more than comfortable taking the lead role in the most important moments.
He finished with a game-high 22 points, including eight in the fourth quarter, as the Gaels held off the visiting Cardinals, 62-56, on Wednesday night at the Smith Center in Irvington.
Mount Saint Joseph (8-1) won its seventh straight game and is 7-1 in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association
and 4-1 in the Baltimore Catholic League. Calvert Hall, which trailed by 12 points after the first quarter but twice got within one in the fourth quarter, fell to 5-5 overall, 5-4 in the MIAA and 0-4 in the BCL.
“The game was close and we had to find a way to get through it with a win,” Tucker said.
Tucker was aggressive getting to the rim early in the fourth quarter to keep the Gaels ahead. When the Cardinals got two free throws from sophomore Mike Williams (team-high 16 points) to trim the deficit to 53-52 with 3:16 to play, Tucker stayed out on the perimeter to hit a 3-pointer from the right corner. Some
key stops on defense and a basket from sophomore Ace Valentine secured the victory.
“Glad we won, but not real excited or impressed with how we played,” said Mount Saint Joseph coach Pat Clatchey, who noted his three senior standouts — D’Angelo Stines, Ausar Crawley and Sean Carr — only mustered two points in the second half.
“I think our seniors, to be honest, weren’t very unproductive in the second half. We didn’t rebound and they have some talent. They have some good athletes, some guys that can shoot and they play hard. I thought we were in a little bit of a fog. Thank God for Bryson — he just rose to the occasion.”
The Gaels had it working at both ends early with all five starters scoring points in building a 20-8 advantage after the first quarter. But the rest of the way, the Cardinals often outworked them on the boards and found their scoring touch to cut into the deficit. Senior Antonio Foxwell (12 points) and Williams combined to score 15 second-quarter points to cut the lead to 37-29 at the half.
In the fourth quarter, the Cardinals were able to get within one point twice, but couldn’t get a stop to take the lead. Clatchey was impressed with how poised his freshman Tucker played to help close out the win.
“For a guy that’s 14 years old to step up in that moment — he embraced it. He seems like he’s built for that,” he said. “He was confident attacking the basket, he was making shots, he was putting the ball on the floor trying to make plays and he produced.”
The young Cardinals showed toughness playing in a visiting gym against a top team. They’ll look to end a three-game slide when they host John Carroll at 6 p.m. Friday.
“We’re really coming along. We’re still a young group and we’re battling everybody and we’re getting close,” Calvert Hall coach Jason Hasson said. “We got three games left in the BCL and we really got to put together some good performances to put ourselves in a good position for the playoffs.”
The Gaels, who got 11 points from Stines and eight from Valentine, will travel to St. Maria Goretti on Friday for a 7 p.m. start.