Defending MIAA B Conference basketball champion St. Mary’s, paced by 43 points from star guard Josh Morgan-Green, powered past A Conference foe Archbishop Spalding, 81-62, in front of packed house last night at Spalding.
Morgan-Green had five three-pointers in the first half, including four in the opening quarter as the Saints built a 30-10 lead and never looked back. The Cavaliers started the game very sluggish and somewhat intimidated by the more experienced St. Mary’s squad.
“[Josh] is a legitimate Division I prospect,” said St. Mary’s coach Brian Konik. “”We got good efforts from Trey Quinn (11 assists) and Nick Groce, (eight points, five assists). We played very well together and we’ve been using a five point guard offense.”
The win combined with Mount Carmel’s victory over John Carroll on Tuesday, gives the B Conference a 2-0 start against the A Conference this year and the Saints will look to continue to the streak when they meet John Carroll on Saturday (3:00 pm) in the opening contest of the Charm City Classic at Loyola College. The Saints (2-0) eliminated the Patriots from last year’s B Conference playoffs, in the semifinal round, before going on to top Mount Carmel in the title game.
The Cavaliers (0-1) were led by 6-4 sophomore forward Delmore Howard who had a team high 16 points and junior guard Andre Moore who chipped in 12 points.
Athletic sophomore big man William Udoh provided a spark off the bench with 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting. Udoh and Howard helped key a Spalding second half surge with their offensive rebounding and aggressiveness in the paint. The Cavaliers used a full court press to force many Saints turnovers, but could not capitalize, cutting the lead to ten points before the Saints pulled away for the win.
Spalding played St. Mary’s even the last three quarters of the game, actually outscoring the Saints by one point from quarters two through four. But the Saints red hot start, featuring four threes by Morgan-Green in the first quarter alone, absolutely killed any chances Spalding had of winning the game.
The Saints offense featured numerous ball screens, back screens, and back door cuts. By the time Spalding figured out how to play team defense to stop the offensive attack, it was far too late.
The Cavaliers will look for their first win of the season on Sunday when they face an even tougher challenge at Cardinal Gibbons High School. Tip off is set for 3:15 pm.
–Tim Brackney and Joe DiBlasi each contributed to this article
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