The Classic — the annual showdown between Mercy High School and Maryvale Preparatory School — is doing a pretty good job of finding a niche in local high school basketball circles just four years after its inception.
After what transpired on Friday night at Towson University’s SECU Arena in front of a raucous crowd, The Classic could grab even more of a hold on area prep hoop fans.
Although neither squad boasts a winning record in its respective Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland conference, fans streamed into the facility Jan. 24 to watch the Lions’ 45-44 upset victory.
Cayden Reese’s clutch put-back with 5.4 seconds remaining in regulation turned the tide for Maryvale, which won for the first time in the series.
The junior point guard had missed a jumper from the top of the key a couple of seconds earlier before a jump ball gave the Lions another crack at taking the lead for good.
“That was devastating,” Reese said about missing the jumper. “I’m hard on myself and that’s like the definition of ‘next play,’ so just don’t stop fighting until the end and then I got the rebound and put it up strong. Then we played good defense and secured the win.”
Maryvale coach Telia Marks, who is also the school’s new athletic director, said that her team’s youth, spirit and drive were the key components to success.
“We’re very young,” she said. “But the cool thing about our team is that we’re gritty, and when you have a gritty team you always have a chance to win.”
There were a multitude of other standouts for the Lions, including team MVP Rhian O’Connor, who scored a team-high 18 points. Freshman guard Maddie Moran did a yeoman’s night work on helping to keep Mercy MVP Milan Brown somewhat under wraps, although the talented Wake Forest commit still poured in a game-best 31 points.
Maintaining the legacy of an annual rivalry on the court, like the one it shared with the Institute of Notre Dame for 54 years before that 173-year-old school closed in 2020, is as important to Mercy as it is quickly being embraced by Maryvale.
The rejuvenated rivalry, which debuted in 2022 and dubbed The Classic, has been dominated by Mercy, which now has a 3-1 record against the Lions in the new series. Mercy also had the upper hand against IND, 30-24.
To fill the void after IND was shuttered and what was then called “The Game” discontinued, Mercy athletic director Nick Gill said that his school’s leadership group reached out to Maryvale to start another chapter in the series’ history.
“It was just such a good opportunity to keep the tradition alive,” Gill said. “It’s a great way to showcase both schools’ communities. And it’s probably the biggest crowd most of these girls will ever play in front of.”
In addition to the players, choirs, pep squads and cheer and dance teams were also able to perform at the event.
Enthusiasm for the Magic hoop squad was on full display at the school during the week, culminating with a Friday afternoon pep rally when the players were introduced amid hearty cheers from a majority of students dressed in Mercy spirit gear.
The same can be said for Maryvale, which also featured spirit week and a Friday pep rally, according to Marks.
“Everybody is excited about the game,” Marks said before the contest, noting that school hallways were decorated with signs supporting the Lions’ effort to garner their first win in the series. “The whole school is rallying around the team.”
The one constant for the Magic during its first three wins in The Classic was Brown, whose jumper from the elbow with 2:48 to go in the fourth quarter knotted the score at 41.
Just 12 second later, junior forward Grace Mooney swished a 3-pointer to give Mercy (5-11, 2-7 A Conference) its first lead of the game.
Moran’s drive with 53 seconds left inched the Lions (9-4, 2-4 B Conference) to within a point before Reese’s heroics.
Before the game, Marks said that Brown “is a special player who can get up and down the court. We have our work cut out for us in trying to stop her, but we are eager to play and compete.”
The Lions and Moran did just that. While Brown did everything in her power to will the Magic to the victory, Moran made her work hard for every point.
“She’s very athletic and can stay with any guard in the league right now,” Marks said. “She’s a lacrosse player, but I’m trying to get her to focus on basketball right now, because the sky’s the limit for her.”
Mercy did well to overcome an 11-point deficit with just under six minutes remaining in regulation.
“We talked about amping up the defense, and the girls did that,” said Mercy coach George Panageotou, who has piloted the Magic to a pair of wins against the Lions after assisting legendary Mercy coach Mary Ella Marion in The Classic’s inaugural edition in 2022. “I told them in the locker room that it wasn’t their effort. Their effort was amazing. We took a three-point lead and somehow that diminished. Maryvale did a great job. Hats off to them. They made shots in the paint and made winning plays.”
Click through the slideshow below to see more photographs from the game. Mercy High School junior Kaci Scherrer is mentoring with the Catholic Review and contributed to the slideshow.
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