St. Frances boys basketball has a special way of handling things when the going gets tough.
The No. 2 Panthers embrace the challenge knowing — win or lose — that they gave everything they could.
In Thursday’s Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference semifinal at No. 3 Glenelg Country, a game filled with clutch plays and baskets that required overtime, St. Frances had the final say.
Led by junior guard Jasiah Cannady — who scored six of his team-high 24 points at the start of overtime — and a 20-for-22 performance from the free-throw line, the Panthers claimed a thrilling 78-72 win over the Dragons.
St. Frances (28-6) will take on No. 1 Mount Carmel — a 64-62 winner over No. 4 Archbishop Spalding in Thursday’s other semifinal — for the league championship at 6 p.m. Saturday at UMBC. Glenelg Country, which got a sensational 33-point performance from senior star Pat Curtin, fell to 20-7.
After Curtin hit a 3-pointer with seven seconds left in the fourth quarter to force overtime and then opened the extra time with another 3, the Dragons appeared poised to advance. But Cannady and the Panthers had other plans with an 11-0 run that also featured five points from Kamauri Lawson.
“Just staying together,” said Cannady, who hit a floater in the lane, a reverse layup and the first 2 of 9 makes at the free-throw line for the Panthers in overtime. “Even when stuff goes down, we know we can fight through adversity and I’m just proud of this team. We’re not done yet. We need to go win this [championship] and go on to the next one [Baltimore Catholic League Tournament].”
Neither team budged in the early going until the Panthers went on an 8-0 run early in the second quarter, capped by Terence Jones’ 3-pointer for a 31-23 advantage with 6:17 left until the break.
But the Dragons dominated the rest of the quarter and got a three-point play and short turnaround jumper from Jalen Baker in the final minute to take a 39-36 halftime lead.
After an evenly played third quarter, the Dragons had a 60-57 lead midway through the fourth. That’s when the defensive intensity cranked up.
The Panthers got a dunk from Cam Fleming with 1:57 to play to pull within one and then two free throws from Cannady gave them a 61-60 lead with 1:20 to play. After two free throws from Jones pushed the lead to three with 19 seconds to play, the Dragons, who hadn’t made a field goal in more than three minutes, turned to Curtin.
On the right side, he took a step back beyond the 3-point line and sank the tying basket to force overtime. He opened with another long make 18 seconds into the four-minute overtime period and the Dragons wouldn’t score again until he nailed two more in the final 28 seconds. By then, the Panthers had built a comfortable double-digit advantage.
“Just guys being in big moments. Kamauri and Jasiah have been in big moments before and they really led us down the stretch. Just big plays,” St. Frances coach Nick Myles said. “It was a great win, but in this league it’s championships or nothing. We split with Mount Carmel and this will be the rubber match and I’ll tell everybody in Baltimore that they need to be at UMBC at 6 o’clock on Saturday night.”
The Dragons’ season isn’t finished either. They’ll next play in the Maryland Private School State Basketball Tournament, earning a first-round bye with their first game set for Saturday, March 1.
Glenelg Country coach Garrett O’Donnell credited the Panthers, in particular their deep backcourt. In addition to Cannady’s big scoring night, Jones finished with 19 points and Lawson had 14.
As has been the case all season, O’Donnell had more praise for Curtin’s fine effort.
“Right now, Pat’s averaging 28 points a game and everybody is going into our games knowing they got to stop him and nobody has been able to do it,” he said. “What Pat has been able to do is put this team on his back night in and night out and just carry us. From scoring to leading the team in taking charges and just by his will and determination.”
Baker and Donavan Marshburn added 13 for the Dragons, while Trent Egbiremolen was the fourth Panther in double figures with 12.
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St. Frances — 23-13-15-12-15 — 78
Glenelg Country — 21-18-15-9-9 — 72
SF — Cannady 24, Jones III 19, Egbiremolen 12, Fleming 7, Lawson 14, Allen 2
GC — Curtin 33, Baker 13, Marshburn 13, Alford 3, Jok 2, Nyok 8