Five Takeaways: St. Frances vs Mt. St. Joe
Last night gave another reason why Baltimore high school basketball is like no other. Not only because of the elite talent on the floor, but the atmosphere. Tickets for the game sold out days prior. A total of 1,200 tickets.…
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Continue ReadingLast night gave another reason why Baltimore high school basketball is like no other. Not only because of the elite talent on the floor, but the atmosphere. Tickets for the game sold out days prior. A total of 1,200 tickets. In a game between two rival teams that would decide the top seed for the MIAA A Conference playoffs, you’d think there would be no shortage of hostility between fans. But last night was bigger than basketball. St. Frances junior point guard Ace Baldwin‘s father would be in attendance, his first time since being diagnosed with leukemia. St. Frances and Mt. St. Joe fans came together and wore orange to support the movement against the horrible disease.
In the end, Mt. St. Joe won a 66-63 thriller and clinched the No. 1 seed.
Here are five takeaways from the match up:
Ausar Crawley shines when the Gaels needed it most
As expected, St. Frances’ defensive game plan was centered around LSU commit James Bishop. They played complete denial defense on Bishop, so it was imperative that someone else on Mt. St. Joe step up for production. Sophomore guard Ausar Crawley answered the door and finished with 17 points on the night. Crawley saw his share of intense ball pressure from St. Frances, but he handled it well by getting driving angles to the basket and finishing strong. If his defender recovered and cut him off, he would pull-up from mid-range and knock down shots.
Baldwin’s gutsy performance isn’t enough
When you hear people of the older generation say “I wish there were players who played their hearts out on both ends like back in my day,” Ace Baldwin is the guy they need to watch. Under the emotional circumstances he faced coming into this game, Baldwin demanded to guard Bishop for the entirety of the game. He refused to switch on ball-screens or pin-downs just to be sure that every look Bishop had was contested. There were a few occasions where Bishop got a switch and scored in the first half, but he was held to just six points until the fourth quarter when St. Frances had to resort to fouling. On top of all of this, Baldwin finished with a team-high 17 points.
Brelsford makes use of the charity stripe
Mt. St. Joe junior guard Tyler Brelsford is known for being a sniper from deep, but an area of his game that has been much improved is his ability to get to the free-throw line. He baits the defense into quick close-outs and uses them to his advantage to open up driving opportunities. Nine of his 14 points last night came from the free-throw line and more than that, forced the game to slow down and not allow St. Frances to get into a rhythm.
Jordan Toles eclipses 1000
St. Frances junior guard Jordan Toles surpassed the 1000-point mark early in the first quarter. Toles followed Baldwin in the scoring column with 13 points, all of which were tough-nosed takes to the basket. Toles’ jumper wasn’t falling, so he resorted into becoming a bull in a china shop when he put the ball on the floor. Football is in Toles’ blood and that’s no secret, so whenever he rises up, he’s inviting contact and effective at finishing despite it.
Defense is still, and always will be, the answer
Mt. St. Joe had a breakdown with under 30 seconds left in the second quarter, sparking a 7-0 run from St. Frances in that time. Aside from that hiccup, the Gaels played some of the best team defense I’ve seen this year. They did all of the little things like cutting off drivers when they got around the paint, walling opposing bigs to force tough turnaround shots and limiting St. Frances to one-shot possessions. At that point, it seemed as if Mt. St. Joe had a stranglehold on the Panthers’ offense. In the second half, the Panthers eventually settled in and found their groove, but without that initial defensive production, the Gaels could’ve easily seen themselves on the losing end. It just proves that defense still, and always will be, the key to winning games.
*Note: In the opening round of the MIAA A Conference Playoffs: (1) Mt. St. Joe will host John Carroll. (2) St. Frances will host Annapolis Area Christian.