BCL Championship: St. Frances vs John Carroll

<p>Last night on the campus of Calvert Hall College High School, the 50th BCL title game took place and lived up to every bit of the excitement. The No. 1 seeded St. Frances Academy Panthers came into this game with a perfect 15-0 record and in pursuit of their fourth-straight BCL crown. After struggling to begin the season, the No. 6 John Carroll Patriots had been the second hottest team in the league by winning their eight previous games. From the jump, John Carroll came out and showed St. Frances there would be no backing down. Their combination of efficiency, effort and focus helped lift them to a 66-62 victory to stun the Panthers and the city as a whole.</p> <p>Here are the takeaways from the finale:</p> <p><a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2021/03/Jeannot-Basima.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-1157513" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2021/03/Jeannot-Basima-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a></p> <p><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Basima caps brilliant MVP effort</strong></span></p> <p>Every year we see a prospect take advantage of the spotlight that the postseason brings. This season that was 2023 John Carroll guard [player_tooltip player_id="957030" first="Jeannot" last="Basima"]. After helping lift the Patriots over the No. 2 seeded Archbishop Spalding Cavaliers in the semifinal with 19 points, Basima exploded against St. Frances and scored 29 with constant attacks to the rim. There wasn’t anything special in terms of how Basima was breaking down the defense. It pretty much came down to simple determination and his quick first step that prohibited anyone on St. Frances from guarding him. They threw a number of looks at Basima’s way and none were deemed successful. The 6-foot-4 guard should see quite a boost in his recruitment following his performances and it’ll be for good reason.</p> <p><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Ireland comes through late</strong></span></p> <p>2021 St. Frances guard Byron Ireland had one of his best games of the season and hit the biggest shot of his basketball career to date. As time was winding down in the fourth quarter, St. Frances trailed by three as the ball found Ireland’s hands on the left wing. After stumbling on a step back dribble and being draped over by 2022 John Carroll guard [player_tooltip player_id="904680" first="TJ" last="Vaughn"], the unsigned senior drilled the game-tying three as time expired to force overtime. It was one of his three three’s last night as he led the Panthers with 22 points in the loss.</p> <p><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Commander with yet another big performance</strong></span></p> <p>If not for Basima exploding for 29 points, [player_tooltip player_id="837919" first="Tyson" last="Commander"] could’ve had a strong argument for being the MVP of this championship run. The 2022 guard led the Patriots in the quarterfinal and semifinal games with 21 and 22 points respectively before finishing with 15 points last night in the championship game. Commander converted on four triples in the third quarter to help John Carroll gain some breathing room heading into the final frame. He had his fair share of struggles to begin the season, but going out on a high note was something that was desperately needed for his team to get to the mountain top.</p> <p><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Panthers’ frontcourt came to play</strong></span></p> <p>The duo of 2021 [player_tooltip player_id="712747" first="Julian" last="Reese"] and 2024 [player_tooltip player_id="1089573" first="Derik" last="Queen"] had a significant impact for St. Frances. Queen, a All-BCL First Team selection, got his first taste of championship play in what should be the first of many. He made freshman mistakes along the way, but his versatility is always on display and seems to impress more and more as time passes. Queen logged 14 points. Reese has struggled with consistency throughout league play, but it was great seeing him take advantage of size mismatches when they were presented to him. He used one to two dribbles with his back to the basket to bully his defender under the rim before laying the ball up or finishing strong with two hands on dunks. Reese also had an impact blocking shots on the defensive end. While it wasn’t enough to help his team get the win, it was a sign of life before he heads off to College Park.</p> <p><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>John Carroll stays hot</strong></span></p> <p>We see every year in the NCAA Tournament when a certain team catches fire in their conference tournament and is able to translate it to their play in the big dance. That’s exactly what this John Carroll team did as they hit their stride back on Mar. 5 when they defeated Gerstell and never looked back. It was complete team buy in. Dominate the glass, be unselfish with the ball offensively and stay committed to doing all of the little things that help manufacture wins. As pressure mounted and physicality increased, they kept their poise. It’s a testament to both the players and coaching staff for completing what many thought was an impossible mission.</p>