MIAA A Conference Quarterfinal Headlines

<p>Last night the four quarterfinal games from the MIAA A Conference took place and there was no shortage of drama. For this article, we’ll take a look at what the headlines were from yet another exciting night of high school hoops in Baltimore.</p> <p><a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2021/06/Christian-Winborne-2.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-1214241" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2021/06/Christian-Winborne-2-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a></p> <p><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Gilman upsets St. Frances</strong></span></p> <p>This isn’t being critical, but I’m sure there weren’t many folks outside the Gilman locker room and parents of the players truly believed that they could stage this upset, but that’s when the old saying "that’s why you play the game," applies. Gilman found themselves trailing by 21 at halftime before staging what will be one of the more memorable comebacks in MIAA history. Led by St. Joe’s commit [player_tooltip player_id="777071" first="Christian" last="Winborne"] who finished with 24 points, the Hounds stormed back to shock the top-seeded Panthers and advance to the semifinals that will take place on Friday evening.</p> <p><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Perry plays hero</strong></span></p> <p>Mt. Carmel faced off against a Loyola Blakefield team who came into last night’s game playing arguably their best basketball of the season. 2024 [player_tooltip player_id="1366895" first="J’Lin" last="Brown"] made a crucial lay up with eight seconds left to give the Dons a 1-point advantage and what looked to be another upset in the quarterfinal round. Eight seconds was too much time for future Loyola (MD) floor general [player_tooltip player_id="904628" first="Deon" last="Perry"] as he went the length of the floor and found space at the right elbow at he stopped on the dime for a mid-range jumper to regain the lead and eventually lift his team to a 78-77 win. Perry continues his stellar senior campaign as he finished with 35 points in the win and his team advances to the semifinal round where they’ll host Gilman on Friday night.</p> <p><a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2022/01/Cam-Whitmore-2.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-1368417" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2022/01/Cam-Whitmore-2-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a></p> <p><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Whitmore’s return proves valuable</strong></span></p> <p>Villanova commit [player_tooltip player_id="837927" first="Cameron" last="Whitmore"] has missed a handful of games in MIAA/BCL play with an ankle injury. As a result, the Cavaliers suffered some bad losses along the way and there was real concern as to how they’d respond in postseason play. Turns out getting their McDonald’s All-American back is just what they needed as Whitmore poured in 30 points and grabbed six rebounds in a strong 67-53 win over John Carroll. This team operates at a different level with Whitmore in the lineup and although he wasn’t as explosive as usual, I chalk that up to getting his legs back under him after sitting for a few weeks. We’ve seen how dangerous this team can be when operating on all cylinders and they’ll need to play at that level on Friday evening if they want a shot at the MIAA title.</p> <p><a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2022/02/Bryson-Tucker-Amani-Hansberry.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-1388508" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2022/02/Bryson-Tucker-Amani-Hansberry-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a></p> <p><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Business as usual for Mount St. Joe</strong></span></p> <p>The Gaels handled business against Calvert Hall last night as they throttled them by a final score of 73-36. Led by our top prospects in both the 2023 and 2024 class, [player_tooltip player_id="957018" first="Amani" last="Hansberry"] and [player_tooltip player_id="1127305" first="Bryson" last="Tucker"], the Gaels are clicking and playing the brand of basketball that often times finds success in playoff environments. They’ll host Spalding on Friday night for the chance to lock in a spot in the championship game. Mount St. Joe handled the Cavaliers with ease last time out, but Spalding was without the services of both Whitmore and [player_tooltip player_id="1198795" first="CJ" last="Scott"], so this game should be very different and one that people clear their schedule for.</p>