No. 1 St. Frances edges Spalding, 57-55
Panthers survive behind senior stars to earn spot in semifinals
The noise from the St. Frances boys basketball team’s locker room was plenty loud after its Baltimore Catholic League quarterfinal against Archbishop Spalding on Friday. It wasn’t a cheerful kind of loud, however. The No. 1 Panthers didn’t believe they played to the high standard they’ve established in recent weeks, but they were able to eke out a 57-55 win over the No. 9 Cavaliers at Goucher College.
St. Frances (29-10) got 12 points each from senior stars Jahnathan Lamothe and Carlton Carrington to advance to Saturday’s semifinals. The Panthers will take on St. Maria Goretti — a 56-51 winner over Loyola Blakefield — at 7 p.m. at Goucher.
For the Panthers to advance, it took a heads-up steal and basket from Lamothe in the final minute and two missed 3-point attempts by Spalding’s Elijah Barrett in the game’s final possession.
“Advancing is the important thing, but this is the closest thing to a loss you can get,” St. Frances coach Nick Myles said. “We just didn’t look sharp and we’ve been sharp for the past three weeks. Hopefully, this is a wake-up call and we get back here tomorrow and figure it out.”
The Panthers were fresh off an emotional, intense overtime win against Mount Saint Joseph to capture the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference championship on Sunday.
On Friday, they had an uneven performance and the upstart Cavaliers were eager to pull off the upset behind a sensational 25-point performance from sophomore forward Malik Washington.
Every time St. Frances looked to pull away, the Cavaliers stayed close. Carrington converted a 3-point play to give the Panthers a 42-34 lead with 2:29 to play in the third quarter, but Washington, who also dominated the boards, followed with a jumper and an inside basket to keep the Cavaliers in range.
A 3-pointer from Tyler Jackson (11 points) to start the fourth quarter gave the Panthers a 49-40 lead, but the Cavaliers answered with a 9-2 run, including a 3 from Barrett and two baskets from RJ Newton (11 points). Washington made it 51-49 with 3:35 left.
With Spalding still trailing by two with one minute left, Lamothe helped make the difference with a heads-up play. After a Panthers miss, the Cavaliers secured the defensive rebound, but Lamothe slapped the ball away under the basket, grabbed it and put it in to push the lead to 57-53.
Barrett’s jumper with 36 seconds left cut the deficit to 57-55, and after a stop, the Cavaliers got the ball back with 11 seconds left. They got the ball to Barrett in the left corner, but his 3-point try was just off the mark. After Spalding secured the rebound and called timeout with 1.1 seconds left, Barrett spotted up in the right corner, but his clean look was again just off.
Spalding, which has 12 underclassmen, finished with a 15-18 mark after graduating a strong senior class. The strides have coach Josh Pratt optimistic for what lies ahead.
“I’m really happy with the overall effort,” he said. “We’re getting better, but we just really wanted to win. We were going for the win and we had two chances and they just hit the front of the rim.
“I think the future is bright for our program. Execution-wise, my young guys really grew up. They learned from film, they understood what we were good at and what we needed to work on and really started playing together well.”
Lamothe expects the Panthers to find their quality form Saturday. St. Frances and Goretti split their two regular-season games, with the Panthers claiming a 71-63 home win Dec. 14 before falling to the Gaels, 85-77, on Jan. 23.
“I think we needed this — a wake-up call,” Lamothe said. “We’ve been playing great basketball for the past two, three weeks, but today we were a little slow. So tomorrow, I know it’s going to be way better. We’re going to bring way more energy and I think we’re going destroy whoever is in front of us.”
AS — Washington 25, Farley 3, Moultrie 7, Newton 11, Barrett 7, Yawn 2 . Totals: 24 2-5 55
SF — Carrington 12, Jackson 11, Lamothe 12, Downs 5, Brown 8, Mebane 2, Lancaster 1, Farroq 6. Totals: 24 6-10 57
Half: SF, 31-28
More from the BCL quarterfinals St. Maria Goretti 56, Loyola Blakefield 51:
Trailing 23-22 at the half, the Gaels (26-6) got a big fourth quarter from senior guard Jahsan Johnson (17 points) to advance to Saturday’s semifinal round.
Johnson scored 11 points in the final frame, making 7 of 8 free throws to help secure the win. Fellow senior guard Najeh Allen added 11 points with junior forward Caleb Embeya chipping in 11.
The Dons, who got a 17-point performance from sophomore guard Jordan Hammons, closed out their season with an 11-15 mark.
No. 2 Mount Saint Joseph 73, Calvert Hall 59:
Tyonne Farrell scored 19 points to lead four Gaels (36-4) in double figures as the defending champions rolled to Saturday’s semifinal round.
Ace Valentine (15 points), Amani Hansberry (13) and Austin Abrams (12) rounded out the balanced performance for Mount Saint Joseph, which takes on Mount Carmel at 5 p.m. Saturday. The Gaels won both regular season meetings — earning a 72-63 road win on Dec. 7 before claiming a 55-51 win at home on Jan. 20.
Calvert Hall (19-18) got a game-high 27 points from Tyrin Bizzelle with Brendan Johnson adding 20.
No. 7 Mount Carmel 79, John Carroll 63: The Cougars (20-5) took charge from the start, getting 20 points from Maro Tatum and Omarion Reid and 16 from Andrew Dixon in a comfortable win.
For John Carroll, which closed its season with a 14-8 mark, senior Jeannot Basima closed out his fine career with a game-high 21 points.