Mount Saint Joseph basketball beats Loyola Blakefield, 67-57
Without one of their top players because of injury, Mount Saint Joseph basketball knew it would need a total team effort with contributions from different sources to get past visiting Loyola Blakefield on Monday.
Standout senior forward Tyonne Farrell scored a game-high 18 points to go with 10 rebounds, sophomore guard BJ Ranson came off the bench and made his first four 3-point attempts in the second half to finish with 13 points, and junior forward Brandon Holmes and senior guard Ryan Truitt each had 11. The performance was capped by collectively strong team defense in the deciding fourth quarter, all pushing the No. 2 Gaels to a 67-57 win over the No. 6 Dons.
Without Jordan Brathwaite, who was nursing a leg injury, Mount Saint Joseph won their 31st straight game at home and improved to 21-3 overall, 6-1 in the Baltimore Catholic League and 7-1 in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference. Loyola Blakefield, which got a game-high 22 points from junior Mason Ellison, falls to 15-8 and 3-6 in the BCL and MIAA A Conference.
Leading 57-55 with 4:25 to go, the Gaels went on a 9-0 run thanks to two baskets from Farrell and the last of Ranson’s 3s while their defense forced the Dons into hurried shots to pull away.
“We came in today and the whole thing was to compete and play hard,” Farrell said. “We had a valuable player out, so a lot of guys stepped it up when we needed them to and I knew I had to play well and be a leader.”
Tightly contested throughout the game, the home team showed more composure in the pivotal fourth quarter after beginning it down by one. The Gaels opened the frame with a 9-0 run, with Ranson’s 3 providing a 55-47 lead midway through. But the Dons had their spurt to draw close, with Ellison connecting on a 3 and Jesse LeGree converting a threepoint play that cut the deficit to 57-55 with 5:05 left.
The Gaels made sure to have the last and biggest run of all to secure the win. Ranson, who made back-to-back 3-pointers at the end of the third quarter, added two more in the fourth.
“I just wanted to make sure I was ready and, today, I took shots today with confidence and made them. It feels amazing,” he said. “It’s just fun to be out there with the big crowd and making big shots and be able to celebrate with my teammates. It was just a lot of fun tonight, moments I always think about.”
Loyola coach Josh Czerski was disappointed with his team’s execution in the final quarter. On defense, the Dons’ zone gave the Gaels’ hot shooters too much time and space. On offense, they settled and hurried their shots and suffered their fourth straight loss.
“It’s a tough league. We’re right back at it on Wednesday and excited to get a game at home and right our wrong we had tonight,” Czerski said.
Other boys basketball scores:
Atholton 54, Centennial 48: Atholton coach Jared Albert held a captains-only meeting with seniors Amir Shaheed and Camden Thibeault after the Raiders’ loss to Meade on Dec. 27 dropped their record to 1-4.
Albert’s message in that meeting was simple: “This is your season, what do you guys want to make of it?”
The Raiders responded by finding their collective identity. Led by Shaheed, Thibeault and fellow senior Deion Dent, the Raiders have played with a heightened intensity in practice and games.
“The key was not keeping our heads down,” Thibeault said. “We came to practice harder each day, started competing more in practice. The competition in practice raised, so game time we came out ready.”
Now, not even an eight-day layoff can slow down Atholton, which beat Centennial on Monday, 54-48. It’s the Raiders’ fourth win in a row and eighth in their past nine games.
Atholton (9-5, 5-4 Howard County) took a nine-point lead to the fourth quarter, but Josh Frazier led a late Centennial rally. Frazier, Howard County’s leading scorer, scored eight of his game-high 27 points in the final quarter. He cut it to a one-possession game with 2:12 remaining, but that was Centennial’s final field goal.
In the final minute, Atholton’s Juan Macatangay patiently maneuvered inside for a bucket that made it a two-possession. The Eagles (6-4, 5-4) turned the ball over on their next two possessions as Shaheed and Dent iced the game with free throws.
In the game’s most critical moments, Atholton leaned on its most experienced players to close it out with a focus on its late-game preparation drills in practice.
“I just feel like we’re finishing out practices better,” Dent said. “We lost most of our games at the end of the game by less than five points. I feel like right now we’re just finishing out games and learning how to close it out.”
— Jacob Steinberg
Perry Hall 65, Edgewood 56
Severna Park 56, Northeast 55
South River 63, North County 54
Broadneck 71, Chesapeake-AA 25
Gerstell 50, Annapolis Area Christian School 48
South Carroll 54, Westminster 49
Fallston 70, Bohemia Manor 60