St. Paul's scored seven points in 70 seconds in the final two minutes, but a game-winning shot attempt caromed off the rim and St. Vincent Pallotti held on for a 59-58 boys basketball victory in a key Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association B Conference contest at St. Paul's School Wednesday.
Pallotti's Harlyn Owens (14 points) and Greg Purnell (13 points) combined for 13 fourth-quarter points to help the Panthers take a 59-51 lead with 1:41 remaining. Purnell hit the third of his three treys in the final quarter and added four straight free throws, and Owens scored six points in the final stanza.
"I just tried to pick up my teammates when the game is at its crucial moments, and I tried to make sure everybody is on the same page and make sure we fought through and got this win," Owens said.
St. Paul's (11-8, 6-3) mounted a comeback that ended with a basket by Daniel Wilson (11 points, 10 rebounds, 5 blocked shots) with 21 seconds left. Wilson also started the 7-0 run with a 5-footer with 1:41 left to make it 59-53.
With :51 left, Michael Ward hit a three-pointer for his only points of the night, and St. Paul's trailed, 59-56.
After Pallotti (16-5, 6-2 league) missed a pair of free throws with 37 seconds left, Ward got the rebound and Juwan Kearson (11 points, 4 rebounds, 3 steals) assisted Wilson for his final score.
St. Paul's got one last chance, after two more missed Pallotti free throws, but Ward's three-point attempt went astray.
"Throughout the whole game, we didn't make it very easy getting the ball in the paint and passing out to our shooters, but the comeback really came from us playing together and the chemistry of the team," Kearson said. "If we keep that up throughout the playoffs and try and get into stride going into the playoffs, I think we will do pretty well."
St. Paul's, coached by Seth Goldberg, is familiar with doing well in the playoffs, having won it all last season.
Pallotti won the title in 2013, before new coach Dennis Murphy took over the program, and he would like to put them back on top in his second season.
Effort like that off the bench from Purnell is what can get the Panthers there.
With 6-foot-8 junior Amanzi Njoku-Ibe (10 points) in foul trouble, Murphy had to employ a smaller lineup at times to maintain the lead against St. Paul's, which was 16-8 after the first quarter and 32-26 at halftime.
"There were times when we had five guards out there when Amanzi wasn't in," Murphy said.
Purnell took one three-point shot in each of the first two quarters and made them both.
"He's a senior and he did hit some big shots for us, and he defended well for us," Murphy said.
Njoku-Ibe and Owens scored nine of Pallotti's first 10 points to give the Panthers the early lead, but the two combined for just four points in the second period.
That's when Michael Robinson scored seven of his 14 points to keep Pallotti ahead.
An 8-0 run in the thid quarter pushed Pallotti's lead to 42-28, but St. Paul's closed the quarter with a 9-2 run.
Ben Bagli (10 points) hit a pair of three-pointers and a free throw and Kearson drove for the other score and St. Paul's trailed 44-39 at the break.
That lead expanded to 48-39, but St. Paul's rallied on the strength of three-pointers by Blake Brown, Zach Bare and Ward, but the Crusaders never got closer than one point.
Brown and Bare finished with nine points each, and Murphy was impressed with the defensive effort Phil Alexander did against St. Paul's scoring threat Bare.
"I thought Phil did a good job on No. 30 (Bare) defending him," Murphy said. "He still scored, he's going to score, he's a very good player, but I thought Phil made it difficult for him to catch the ball and his shots were contested."