Dealing with injuries and other setbacks, the Calvert Hall basketball team hasn't taken to the court at full strength very often this season.
But right now, the Cardinals are intact, and it showed Sunday at St. Frances.
Needing to be at its best, Calvert Hall started fast and had an answer for every push from the home team. There were plenty before the No. 9 Cardinals finally secured a thrilling 84-83 win over the No. 12 Panthers.
Four players scored in double figures for the Cardinals, who made their final 10 free throws and 15 of 16 in the fourth quarter to close out the tight win and avenge a 70-65 home loss to St. Frances on Dec. 10.
With the win, Calvert Hall (18-5) improved to 7-3 in the Baltimore Catholic League and 9-4 in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference, while St. Frances (19-7) fell to 5-5 in the BCL and 7-6 in the MIAA A Conference.
The Cardinals scored the first five points and went up by as many as nine in the third quarter. But they were never able to shake the Panthers, who came into the game with impressive wins over No. 7 Milford Mill and No. 2 Edmondson in the past few days.
In the final 2:39 of play, Calvert Hall's lead was just two points on five occasions, with the Cardinals getting to the foul line by taking advantage of favorable matchups on offense. Senior Evan Phoenix (17 points) hit two free throws; junior Justin Gorham (team-high 19 points) hit four straight on consecutive possessions, and senior Drew Edwards (16 points) hit a pair.
After St. Frances' Kurk Lee Jr. scored with 11 seconds left to cut the lead to 82-80, it was senior Nico Clareth (18 points) who was fouled and calmly sank two free throws with 5.2 seconds to play to give the Cardinals the needed 84-80 cushion. The Panthers' Daquan Bracey ended the scoring with a 3-pointer at the buzzer for the final margin.
"We came out with the attitude that this was a must-win, league play," Phoenix said. "And the last time they beat us at home, so it was a must-win, and we came out hyped, and it showed today."
Senior point guard Reggie Rouse and Clareth have both missed significant time with injuries this season, but they are healthy and the Cardinals are looking to peak at just the right time with the home stretch of the regular season on its way.
After a double-overtime loss against Mount Carmel on Jan. 18 — their last game — coming together for a quality team win at St. Frances is a big building block for the Cardinals. The poise from Calvert Hall's seniors showed up in a big way at the end.
"Again, having seniors step up, being in these moments and being able to make clutch free throws," Calvert Hall coach John Bauersfeld said. "We had a couple turnovers, [but] we didn't dwell on them and made the right decisions down the stretch."
It was a special day at St. Frances with the school inducting its first athletic Hall of Fame class in a ceremony before the game . With a big crowd on hand, the Panthers, who received 17 points each from Bracey and Josh Ayeni, stayed close but never got the stop or basket to grab hold of the game.
Lee finished with 16 points, Khalil Richard added 15 points and Eric Cobb had 12 for St. Frances.
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Boys basketball
9 Calvert Hall 84, 12 St. Frances 83
CH – Edwards 16, Clareth 18, Rouse 4, Gorham 19, Duckett 8, Phoenix 17, Bahar 2. Totals: 26 28-34 84.
SF -- Ayeni 17, Rufus 4, Richard 15, Johnson 2, Cobb 12, Lee Jr. 16, Bracey 17. Totals: 30 17-21 83.
Half: CH 45-37