Advertisement

No. 1 St. Frances boys basketball finishes strong for a 54-50 win at upset-minded Glenelg Country

glenn graham, baltimore sun
·3 min read

No matter the opponent or situation, No. 1 St. Frances boys basketball knows it will always fight hard and play together to the end.

On the road against bigger Glenelg Country on Monday, the Panthers were getting handled on the boards and were unable to find a groove while playing from behind well into the third quarter.

Their scrappiness showed up just in time.

After overcoming a double-digit deficit in the third quarter and then watching the host Dragons build another lead at the start of the fourth, the Panthers made sure to have the final say thanks to their energy and execution in the final four minutes to close out a resilient 54-50 win in Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference play.

Four Panthers finished in double figures with Josiah LeGree and Donovan Flamer each positing 14 points to lead the way. It’s the ninth straight win for St. Frances, which improves to 20-6 overall and 7-2 in league play.

Glenelg Country, which got 15 points from Patrick Curtin, fell to 7-12 and 4-5.

Trailing by as many as 13 points in the first half and then 10 in the third quarter before taking the lead, the Panthers once again fell behind by five with 4:54 left to play. They showed a confident finishing ability with Trent Egbiremolen (11 points) hitting consecutive 3-pointers to start the final rally with baskets from LeGree and Flamer helping to secure the win later.

“During halftime, Coach Nick [Myles] told us we had to fight and play harder as a team and that’s what we did. We had to be more scrappy because they were bigger and that’s what we came out and did,” LeGree said.

Related Articles

One constant with perennial power St. Frances is that they are comfortable in close games.

“Staying poised and being confident in each other,” LeGree said. “We just feel nobody can stop us down the stretch when we stick together and we’re going to fight regardless of whether we win or lose.”

Getting second and third shots with 7-footers Akol Nyok and Deng Jok active under the basket, the Dragons opened with the game’s first eight points and, after their lead was cut to 15-12, started fast again in the second quarter. Curtin and Jalen Baker opened the quarter with consecutive three-point plays and the lead would grow to 32-19 with the Dragons making good on 9 of 12 free throws in the frame.

After the Panthers went on a 13-0 run late in the third quarter — LeGree scored seven points and delivered a perfect lob pass that Flamer dunked — to take their first lead, the Dragons responded with another strong start to the fourth.

Curtin twice found Ronald Alford up the court for easy layups that helped put the Dragons ahead 46-41, but the Panthers showed they had plenty left to close out the win. Jasiah Cannady had 10 points in the win.

“Just got to be tough every night in the MIAA, they’re all good. Those two 7-footers, they are imposing with their length — [Glenelg Country] has a good team,” Myles said. “It took executing and just staying together to get some stops with all five guys crashing the boards to rebound.”

Both teams return to action Wednesday night with Glenelg Country traveling to John Carroll at 6 p.m. and St. Frances hosting Archbishop Spalding at 7 p.m.

SF — Flamer 14, Egbiremolen 11, LeGree 14, Baldwin 2, Cannady 10, Jarzynski 3. Totals: 18 12-14 54

GCS — Curtin 15, J. Baker 9, Ka. Crosse 1, Jok 5, Nyok 7, Marshburn 9, Alford 4. Totals: 17 12-16 50

Halftime: 32-23, GCS