The fourth quarter came and St. Frances boys basketball had some ground to make up against visiting Glenelg Country on Friday.
The No. 3 Panthers cranked up the intensity on defense and became more assertive on the boards. On offense, point guard Kamauri Lawson was ready and willing to make the difference.
The junior opened the deciding quarter with the home team’s first nine points, dished out a key assist in the final minute and then made two free throws with 19 seconds left that helped seal a 58-55 win over the No. 5 Dragons.
St. Frances improved to 18-4 overall and 7-1 in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference. Glenelg Country, which got 15 points from senior guard Pat Curtin, fell to 13-5 and 8-2 in league play.
Trailing 49-44 entering the fourth quarter, the Panthers got a pressure-packed defensive stop and then Lawson converted a three-point play to set the tone for the last eight minutes.
What was Lawson’s mindset going into the pivotal fourth quarter?
“Do whatever we got to do to win as a team,” he said. “It depends on what type of game it is and tonight was my night. Earlier in the game, we weren’t scoring as we normally do, so I felt like I had to step up and be big for us tonight and I feel I did that.”
The Panthers had good early rhythm with a balanced attack that led to a 21-10 advantage after the first quarter. Terence Jones III and Trent Egbiremolen accounted for 13 of those points.
But the Dragons dominated the middle quarters to build an advantage. It was center Deng Jok and guard Kayden Leggett who did most of the damage in the second quarter. Jok dominated inside with four baskets and Leggett’s third field goal of the quarter with seven seconds left gave the Dragons their first lead at 29-28.
The visitors opened the third quarter on an 8-0 run. Curtin took charge with six points and Glenelg Country would push the lead to 44-32 when he converted a tough three-point play in traffic with 3:09 left.
The Panthers closed out the quarter strong, getting four free throws from Egbiremolen and a basket from Lawson to cut the lead to 49-44.
The momentum never left them.
Lawson’s second three-point play gave St. Frances a 50-49 lead with 6:09 left. Then, with 4:35 left, he hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key that made it 53-51.
The Dragons made two field goals in the quarter, the last coming with 13 seconds left when Drew Harris hit a 3 to cut the lead to 57-55. After Jasiah Cannady made one free throw with nine seconds left, Curtin shot a hurried 3 off the mark that was rebounded by teammate Jalen Baker, who got behind the 3-point line and got another shot off that missed.
“[Entering the fourth quarter] we knew we had to get defensive stops and try to neutralize Pat because he’s a really good player. I think we did a pretty good of that,” St. Frances coach Nick Myles said. “And we had to score the ball. We had a couple spurts during the game when we went four, five minutes without scoring, so we had to make shots and Kam was big in finding the gaps, getting to the hole and making some tough shots.”
Jones and Egbiremolen each finished with 10 points, while Cam Fleming added nine for the Panthers. Harris had 13 with Jok adding 12 for the Dragons.
Glenelg Country coach Garrett O’Donnell said rebounding and shot selection were the vital components in the deciding fourth quarter.
“They were better at both of those. So it’s disappointing because I think we got the guys in the room to do it, but we’ll grow and continue to improve,” he said.
St. Frances returns to action Monday, visiting No. 4 Mount Saint Joseph at 7 p.m. Glenelg Country next hosts John Carroll at 6 p.m. Friday.
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Glenelg Country — 10-19-20-6 — 55
St. Frances — 21-7-16-14 — 58
GC — Curtin 15, Jok 12, Baker 5, Harris 13, Leggett 7, Williams 3
SF — Cannady 6, Jones III 10, Egbiremolen 10, Fleming 9, Lawson 20, Allen 1, Glover 2