A dazzling 42-point performance from senior guard Carter Fisk at the forefront, No. 1 St. Frances boys basketball impressively reached a higher quality of play Thursday against its biggest rival, Mount Saint Joseph.
The Panthers played fierce defense from the onset and continually found Fisk, pulling away late in the second quarter and dominating the rest of the way for an easy 83-62 home win over the No. 3 Gaels in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference semifinals.
St. Frances (33-6) will take on No. 2 and defending champion Mount Carmel — a 63-49 winner over No. 8 Glenelg Country in Thursday’s other semifinal — in Sunday’s championship game, set for 5 p.m. at UMBC’s Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena.
In his career performance, Fisk knocked down four 3-pointers, converted two 3-point plays and opened the second half with a statement lob dunk off a feed from fellow guard TJ Jones. It provided a 44-28 lead, and the Panthers led by as many as 30 points in the fourth quarter.
What a time to have a career night as the Panthers now have the chance to claim the program’s seventh MIAA A crown on Sunday.
“It felt great,” Fisk said. “I had a great warmup, my mind was on the game all day since the morning, actually since last night. My teammates were finding me, I had the hot hand and I was in a real good zone.”
The win came at a cost for the Panthers when senior guard Anthony Smith was ejected along with Mount Saint Joseph forward Zikom Etolue. The two were involved in a skirmish during the third quarter.
Smith, whose tone-setting defense helped limit Gaels’ standout BJ Ranson to just eight points, is automatically out for Sunday’s title game, but the team can appeal the suspension.
Fisk’s offensive display was matched by the Panthers’ overwhelming energy on defense.
Taking a 22-16 lead into the second quarter, the home team gradually started to pull away with Fisk hitting two 3s, Jones (19 points) and Chance McCoy each adding one more before Jaliel Spears beat the buzzer on a putback to push the lead to 42-28.
The picture perfect lob from Williams to a wide-open Fisk, well above the rim, to open the third quarter showed the Panthers were on their way.
After a sluggish first three quarters in their 72-57 opening round win over St. Vincent Palotti on Tuesday, St. Frances coach Nick Myles asked for more urgency from his team on Thursday. Against Mount Saint Joseph, it was no problem.
“It’s playoff time,” he said. “We underachieved last game against Pallotti, so we wanted to come out with a better showing. We know St. Joe is a tough team.”
Myles, in his 14th year as the Panthers’ coach, has seen plenty of special performances in his time and Fisk’s stacked right up there.
“Big-time players show up for the big-time games. It’s our job to have them prepared and then let the kids showcase their talents and it was a great night for him,” he said.
Mount Saint Joseph, which opened the postseason with a sturdy 66-56 win over Spalding on Tuesday behind Ranson’s 26 points, falls to 30-7 and will turn its attention to the Baltimore Catholic League Tournament starting on March 1. The Gaels will open against Calvert Hall in the quarterfinals with game time set for 4:30 at Loyola University’s Reitz Arena.
MSJ: 16-12-15-19 — 62
SF: 22-20-23-18 — 83
MSJ: Ranson 8, Early Jr. 13, Ch. Word 13, Ci. Word 3, Simley 14, Etolue 6, Anthony 2, Hudgins 3
SF: Jones 19, Fisk 42, Smith 4, McCoy 8, Spears 4, Batsinda 4, Branch 2
Mount Carmel advances to MIAA A title
No. 2 Mount Carmel 63, No. 8 Glenelg Country 49: The defending champion Cougars (27-10) opened the second half on a 7-0 run to build a double-digit advantage and held strong the rest of the way to advance to Sunday’s title game.
Tristen Wilson scored 14 points with Junior Mancho, Ralfs Rudusans and Samartine Hill each adding 11 in the balanced effort. Gage Howard, who surpassed 1,000 career points in the Cougars’ opening playoff win against Boys’ Latin on Tuesday, finished with nine.
Mount Carmel and St. Frances split their two regular-season games with the home team winning — the Cougars claiming a 62-49 win on Nov. 25 before the Panthers avenged the loss with a 77-67 win on Feb. 8.
Mount Carmel coach Tony Martin said the title game’s tempo will play a big role in deciding the outcome.
“Those two guys [Fisk and Jones] are so dynamic and I think Nick [Myles] has done a great job this year. They get contributions from so many different guys and are so deep, so they’re a bit like us in that way except those two guys can kind of throw it on their backs,” he said.
Glenelg Country (16-8) got 14 points from Drew Harris with Donavan Marshburn and Malakai Jones each scoring 10.
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GC: 18-13-10-8 — 49
MC: 19-15-14-15 — 63
GC: Marshburn 10, Harris 14, Jones 10, Leggett 7, DuPont 5, Hernandez 3
MC: T. Wilson 14, Hill 11, Mancho 11, Rudusans 11, Howard 9, Williams 7