Nail-biting night for Cougars
Mount Carmel scrambles past Spalding after leading by 24
The Mount Carmel basketball team found itself in scramble mode throughout Friday’s fourth quarter against visiting Archbishop Spalding.
The 24-point advantage the Cougars had built with efficient play at both ends was dwindling in the fourth quarter. Two of their top players fouled out. The Cavaliers cranked up the defense and were turning turnovers into points. Twice in the final minute, the visitors tied the game.
In past seasons, Mount Carmel coach Trevor Quinn said his team would have probably crumbled. On Friday, the Cougars grinded through. Freshman guard Andrew Dixon made one free throw with three seconds left, proving the difference as Mount Carmel claimed a thrilling 80-79 win over Spalding.
Toby Nnadozie, who fouled out early in the fourth, finished with a team-high 21 points as the Cougars had all five starters reach double figures. They improve to 11-1 overall, 9-1 in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference and 5-1 in the Baltimore Catholic League. Spald
ing, which got a game-high 30 points from junior Cam Whitmore, is 9-2 overall, 8-2 in the MIAA and 4-2 in the BCL.
With Nnadozie and Kevin Kalu, who finished with 16 points and dominated the boards, on the bench for the home stretch, the Cougars leaned on junior guard Deon Perry (16 points), Dixon (15 points) and key contributions from Kevin Chinnia from the bench.
After Dixon put them up one, Spalding’s Jalen Bouknight got past midcourt and had to double pump a heave that was off the mark due to Chinnia’s alert defense.
“We had to execute down the stretch with some other guys off the bench and they did a good job to finish the game. Probably in previous years, we would have lost our composure. But Deon Perry has been in these situations the past couple years and he kind of led the way for us,” Quinn said.
Smoothly running a balanced offense and dominating the boards led to a 46-34 halftime lead that was extended to 66-42 when Nnadozie hit a 3 pointer with 1:32 left in the third quarter.
But the Cavaliers put good use to the final minute of the third quarter — closing with a 7-2 run — and then continued to press in the fourth behind Whitmore and CJ Scott. When Scott (18 points) hit a 3 pointer with 3:59 to play, the lead was cut to double digits at 73-64. With Nnadozie and Kalu on the bench, Whitmore took over. He hit a 3 pointer with 1:20 to play and scored inside to cut the Mount Carmel lead to 77-75 with 54 seconds left. After a steal, Ty Peterson was fouled and hit two free throws to tie the game at 77. Two made free throws from Perry gave the lead back to the Cougars with 31 seconds before Whitmore scored inside to tie the game again with 15 seconds to play.
Dixon showed confidence with the ball, getting fouled driving on the baseline. He made the first free throw and it proved enough.
“I knew I had to step up,” he said.
As for holding off the Cavaliers fourth-quarter surge, he added: “You just got to keep your mind, keep playing and that’s what we did.”
Spalding coach Josh Pratt was quick to credit the Cougars for coming out fast and prepared, and also proud with how his Cavaliers showed no quit in rallying from the big deficit.
“What the players and everybody says is they punched us in the face. I think we needed it. To our credit, we came back. We showed a lot of fight and I’m just really proud of the kids, but you got to move on,” he said.
For the Cavaliers, they’ll be back at practice Saturday to prepare for Sunday’s 2 p.m. home game against Calvert Hall to begin the final week of the regular season.
Mount Carmel looks to carry the momentum into Monday’s showdown against undefeated St. Frances with game time set for 6 p.m.
“St. Frances is a great team … considered the cream of the crop this year,” Quinn said. “But each game is different so whatever they have done so far and whatever we have done so far really doesn’t matter. Every game is different. We take it game by game and scout by scout and just hope on the 32 minutes we’re on the floor, we come out on the right end.”
— Pennick 5, Whitmore 30, Scott 18, Peterson 16, Bouknight 2, Saucier 3, Elung 2, Rivers 3. 2816-2479
— Nnadozie 21, K. Kalu 16, Perry 16, Dixon 15, M. Kalu 10, Chinnia 2. 2719-2680.
MC, 46-34
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Lee Westwood isn’t interested in comparing himself with the player who rose to No. 1 in the world a decade ago. All he knows is he’s playing some of his best golf, and he gets another chance to see if it can hold up against the best field.
Westwood had all the shots Friday in a bogeyfree round at The Players Championship, with two birdies at the start and a nifty pitch to a troublesome pin on the par-5 ninth to close with a another birdie and a 6-under 66.
That gave him a one-shot lead over Matt Fitzpatrick (68) going into the weekend on the Stadium Course at the TPC Sawgrass, with U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau not too far behind.
Westwood, who turns 48 next month, played well enough to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational last week at Bay Hill except that DeChambeau was one shot better in a fascinating duel of generations on a course that favors power.
Sawgrass favors no particular style, and it produced an eclectic mix of contenders at the halfway point.
“I think to compete in any of these tournaments against the best players in the world, you can’t have any weaknesses in your game,” Westwood said. “I wouldn’t be able to say I’m doing this better or that better. There’s not a shot out there I’m afraid of. There’s not a shot out there I’ll walk up to and think, ‘I haven’t got this one.’
“I’m comfortable out there with everything.”
He was at 9-under 135 and will be part of the All-England final pairing Saturday.
Sergio Garcia was another shot back after a 72 that looked like it was a lot worse with so many putts the Spaniard missed, including a 23-inch par putt on the 15th hole that followed a 5-foot par putt he missed on the 14th.
Still, the 2008 champion showed plenty of game — and enough par putts that went in — to stay in the hunt. He drilled his approach to inches away on the par-5 11th for his third eagle of the week, which a already ties the tournament record.
And he finished in style with an approach that danced around the flag and settled 5 feet away for birdie on the 18th.
“It was a beautiful roller coaster,” Garcia said. “There were a lot of good things. Unfortunately, a lot of bad things. But more than anything there was a lot of fighting, and that’s one of the things that I’m most proud of because when things are not really happening and you miss a couple putts here and there, it’s easy to kind of let the round get away from you.”
When the second round was suspended by darkness, 16 players were within five shots of the lead.
DeChambeau was in the group three shots behind after a 69 that began with a double bogey from the trees and a muffed chip out of the rough from behind the green. He was bogeyfree the rest of the way on a course that doesn’t let him swing for the fences because of water and cross bunkers and other brands of trouble.
“I’m happy with the fact that I’ve still been able to keep myself in it and score well,” DeChambeau said. “I’ve been pretty lucky, for the most part. I don’t think that’ll happen this weekend.”