‘We began a dynasty today’
St. Mary’s tops Chapelgate with complete effort start to finish to defend crown
Chapelgate Christian Academy wanted its first boys basketball championship at UMBC on Sunday. St. Mary’s wanted to begin a dynasty.
Just three years ago, St. Mary’s couldn’t even muster enough wins to make the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association B Conference playoffs. Saints coach Trey Quinn reminded his team of that mountain they climbed long before they could stake their flag again.
One title did not make conquerors. But two in as many years, despite roster turnover caused by graduation and playing in a league in which quality has consistently risen? That was different.
“We began a dynasty today,” senior Grady Wolfe declared.
Five seniors chose to never feel again the way they did after their hapless freshman season. Those same five spearheaded a complete effort from start to finish on Sunday, proving themselves truly the most dominant team in the MIAA B Conference with a 70-57 victory over Chapelgate. It’s the Saints’ fifth title overall.
Scoring his most points since dropping 35 in a Jan. 23 game against Concordia Prep, Aidan Harris, a Saint Francis (Pa.) commit, spread his 31-point total fairly evenly across four quarters, kickstarting St. Mary’s offense every moment they needed him.
Quinn thought back to last year’s championship game, when Harris willingly took a backseat to generate offense, feeding assists to teammates instead of cooking himself.
“This year, he knew he was going to have to score the ball for us, and his efficiency was phenomenal. I don’t think he took a bad shot,” Quinn said. “When you put a bunch of work into it, big players make big plays in big games.”
Moments before, in the dark following the national anthem, Harris asked Quinn to give him the ball on the first play. The 6-foot-6 senior wanted to begin his rampage so badly, he leaped for the jump ball a second too early.
“I love big games,” Harris said. “I do what I have to do.”
Harris already had nine points when Chapelgate changed its plan and doubleteamed him, and even then the Yellow Jackets had to contend with Casey Smith, Ajani Lomax, Wolfe (nine points) and Mason Hopper.
If Chapelgate had been able to maintain its dominance on the offensive glass as it did at the start, things might have leveled themselves out naturally. But once Saints started monopolizing those, too, Chapelgate suddenly found itself in trouble.
Wolfe battled through congested traffic at the net for a basket that made it 20-9. That got the attention of Yellow Jackets senior Zef Fuanya, as well as 6-foot-7 Timi Akisanya (15 points) — two players they rely on to score down low.
The pair, at the least, cut the Saints’ advantage to single digits by the first quarter’s end. But St. Mary’s lead would balloon soon after as Harris found his groove again. The senior breezed to the net, scoring another nine points to add to his total.
The Saints rendered the Yellow Jackets’ leading scorer, senior Julian Ludwig, helpless in the first quarter, but in the second he triggered their rally, helping turn the momentum and cut the deficit to 35-29 at halftime.
The Saints felt the ground similarly slide beneath them just a few days ago in the semifinals against Archbishop Curley. After a dominant start to the first quarter, St. Mary’s let the Friars back into the game, surrendering rebounds and easy layups.
Just like on Thursday, Quinn shook off the first half with a new mission: win the first few minutes of the third quarter. If Chapelgate was going to begin the second half the way it ended the first, then the best
way to quell it was to match it.
St. Mary’s erupted into the second half battling every contested ball on the glass and outrunning the Yellow Jackets anytime a ball popped loose. But that wasn’t enough to trap their offense completely.
“We knew they were really good on the rebound, and we weren’t winning those in the first half,” Wolfe said. “We had to fix that. Ajani and I got down there, worked to box them out.”
Lomax and Wolfe corralled Ludwig and Fuanya to limit the Yellow Jackets inside. Akisanya became the Yellow Jackets’ lone source of scoring, and even then he missed every foul shot awarded to him. That was a problem for Chapelgate, which went 6-for17 from the free-throw line.
The Saints, meanwhile, made their run. If it wasn’t Harris scoring, it was senior Jayden Bryant (10 points), Lomax (nine points) or Smith (nine points) as they took a 56-40 advantage.
Chapelgate’s fire flickered in the third. It all but blew out in the fourth.
“It was a team effort. It all starts in the defensive end,” Harris said. “Once we figured out we had to rebound the ball, that’s what we went and did.”