St. Frances Academy sophomore guard Jasiah Cannady had tears of joy moments after the Baltimore Catholic League championship.
The Panthers overcame a nine-point halftime deficit and rallied for a 58-53 victory over upstart Archbishop Spalding in the title game March 3 at Goucher College.
St. Frances senior guard Josiah LeGree scored a game-high 25 points and was named tournament most valuable player. The Panthers finished the season with a 26-12 record and won their first BCL Tournament title since 2020.
“We always believe in one another,” LeGree said. “In these kinds of games, we are always fighting, fighting and fighting, never giving up until the end. I give credit to my coaches, my teammates, my parents, the fans, everybody. My high school career is over now, but they’ve been here throughout my journey.”
It was the second championship game loss in as many weeks for Spalding, which also advanced to the MIAA A Conference championship, where the Cavaliers lost to Mount St. Joseph, 57-52, on Feb. 24.
In the BCL final, St. Frances trailed the entire first half but changed the momentum by scoring eight straight points to open the third quarter. Cannady gave the Panthers their first lead, 32-31, with 3:30 left.
From there, the teams traded leads until 2:03 left in the game. The Panthers, who rotated players throughout, appeared to wear down Spalding.
A 3-pointer by Cannady provided a 52-51 lead and St. Frances finally began to pull away. A layup by LeGree and consecutive field goals by Trent Egbiremolen gave the Panthers the final 58-53 victory.
It was St, Frances’ record 11th BCL Tournament title.
“Our coach always says, the quarter starts 0-0, just come strong, just fight,” Canady said. “That’s all we’ve been doing all year and we came out on top. We just needed to get a stop. We have a lot of scorers. We know we can get a bucket anytime we want. I’m proud of my team.”
The teams split the regular-season series 1-1. St. Frances won 70-63 on Dec. 13 in Severn, and Archbishop Spalding won, 67-64, in Baltimore City on Jan. 31.
This time, Spalding dominated the early part.
Malik Washington maded back-to-back dunks and Kam Carter had a pair of 3-pointers as Spalding led 15-9 at the end of the first quarter. St. Frances was held scoreless for almost the opening five minutes before LeGree scored all nine of their points.
St. Frances pulled to within 15-13 on a jumper by Cannady with 6:11 left in the half. The Cavaliers responded with two 3-pointers by Michael Lonergan and five straight points by Washington, leading 30-21 at the break.
Carter had 12 points and Washington scored 10 in the opening half.
“I give the kids all the credit,” St. Frances coach Nick Myles said. “We had a horrible first half. In the second half, we fought and we stuck to our program and we shared the ball. We did a better job trusting each other in the second half.”
Washington led Spalding with 18 points and rebounds. Carter scored 17 points and had seven assists.
Despite losing championship games in back-to-back weekends, the future looks bright for the Cavaliers, who should return several of key players next season. Spalding (23-10) still has basketball to play in the 2024 Maryland Private School State Tournament in the quarterfinal round March 5 against Mount Zion Prep.
“Hats off to St. Frances, they finished the game,” Spalding coach Josh Pratt said. “One or two possessions definitely could have changed the game a bit. There were a couple of minutes where they grabbed the lead and we had some matchup issues. We really had a great tournament and we had a great season.”
2024 BCL All-Tournament Team
Dan Popera Sportsmanship Award
Andrew Dixon (Mount Carmel)
All-Tournament Team
Tyonne Farrell (Mount St. Joseph)
Kam Carter (Archbishop Spalding)
Malik Washington (Archbishop Spalding)
Jasiah Cannady (St. Frances)
Trent Egbiremolden (St. Frances)
John M. Plevyak Most Valuable Player
Josiah Legree (St. Frances)
BCL Tournament scores
Presented by Brooks Financial Group
(Decker Sports & Recreation Center Arena; Goucher College)
Friday, March 1
First Round
2 St. Frances 76, 7 John Carroll 62
3 Mount Carmel 63, 6 Loyola 46
1 Mount St. Joseph 81, 8 Calvert Hall 56
4 Archbishop Spalding 82, 5 St. Maria Goretti 79
Saturday, March 2
Semifinals
4 Archbishop Spalding 60, 1 Mount St. Joseph 48
2 St. Frances 58, 3 Mount Carmel 52
Sunday, March 3
Championship
2 St. Frances 58, 4 Archbishop Spalding 53
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