Boys Basketball: McDonogh's Season Ends at Hands of Top Seed

Rome was not built in a day, and neither are MIAA “A” conference championships.

In just its fourth year in the league’s top tier, John Carroll (28–2, 12–1 MIAA "A", 11–1 BCL) advanced to its first title game appearance with a 58–54 win in which the home team never trailed against in the “A” semifinals Wednesday night. The Patriots also tied their school record, set in 2006–2007, for wins in a season and are scheduled to face No. 2 St. Frances at 2 p.m. Sunday.

Leading the way was senior Ronald Scott, who scored 11 of his game-high 18 points in the first quarter.

“[It was] huge. He’s obviously done that multiple times,” John Carroll head coach Tony Martin said.

The home team and No. 1 seed jumped out to a 9–2 lead on baskets from each of its top three players. Scott hit a 3-pointer less than a minute into the game and followed with a layup the next possession. Consecutive baskets by senior Malcolm McMillan and junior Jarred Jones capped the early run.

“[The] last couple games I’ve been off so I knew I had to come out strong this game and help my team get back on track,” Scott said.

John Carroll’s full court pressure bothered the No. 4 Eagles early, even forcing a 10-second violation midway through the first. The visitors trailed by as much as 12 in the second quarter before heading to the locker room down 29–18.

Robby Weingart, however, quickly closed the gap. After Jones made it 31–18—the biggest margin of the game—to start the third quarter, Weingart scored 10 of his 17 points in less than six minutes. The Eagle hit two of his three 3-pointers in the stretch.

Trailing by seven entering the fourth, a Denzell Walker and-one tied the game for the first time at 46 with 5:20 remaining, but the senior missed the free throw that would have given the visitors their first lead.

B.J. Andrews had a chance to take the lead less than two minutes later when he was fouled on a 3-point attempt, but the Eagles senior only made the first two free throws to tie the game at 49.

McMillan had an and-one of his own with 3:11 remaining, and missed the free throw, before sophomore Rodney Elliot and Scott scored on back-to-back possessions to complete a 6–0 run and make it 55–49.

McDonogh had a final chance to tie with less than 20 seconds remaining, but sophomore Taysean Scott—Ronald’s younger brother—missed a straightaway 3-point attempt. Ronald made another free throw to push the lead to 58–54 with six seconds remaining before the Eagles missed a half-court shot at the buzzer.

“I just know I had to beat him so he wouldn’t talk about it at home,” Ronald Scott said of facing his brother. “This is a big game.”

No one understands that more than Martin.

“It’s tough for [him] playing against his brother,” he said. “That can weigh on him a little bit as well and he probably had his best start in three games this year against McDonogh.”

The head coach said his team’s “stick-to-it-iveness” was the difference, but Eagles head coach Donta Evans thought otherwise.

“They made more plays down the stretch than we did,” he said. “My biggest concern coming into the game was going to be if we were going to be ready for the intensity of playoff basketball. I knew that John Carroll would be ready because they have a veteran team.”

Jones finished with 15 points and five rebounds while sophomore Mike Owona had 10 points and a game-high six rebounds. McMillan finished with nine.

For McDonogh, Andrews had 12 and junior Kayel Locke had 11.

It was the second time in less than two weeks and third this season that the Eagles came up short against the league’s top seed. The Patriots won 65–63 in overtime in a Feb. 5 game in Bel Air.

“We were so close to being able to pull off the win against such a great team,” Evans added. “Our whole thing all year has been trying to get to the point where everybody understands and respects what McDonogh is all about and I think we accomplished that to some point this year.”

The Patriots, who still have the Baltimore Catholic League tournament and Alhambra Catholic Invitational on their schedule, too, have bigger plans.

Said Ronald Scott: “This is basically what we worked for."