McDonogh held on to second place in the MIAA A Conference with an impressive 73-62 overtime win over Mount St. Joseph, in Owings Mills on Wednesday night.
The Eagles (16-6, 8-2) were down by 14 early in the first half before staging their comeback. Kayel Locke lead the way with 24 points, ten of which came in the third quarter when he kept his team in the game.
The Eagles were down by nine after the opening quarter, and they trailed 30-26 at the half. St. Joe’s Kameron Williams had eight third quarter points to keep his team in the lead after three (48-42), but McDonogh’s offense ignited in the fourth quarter behind Locke, Robby Weingart and Denzell Walker. Walker scored with 23 seconds left in regulation to cut the lead to two, and Locke tied it seconds later to force the overtime.
McDonogh outscored St. Joe 15-4 in OT and they kept the Gaels from making a field goal in the extra session. Walker who was 8-for-8 from the free throw line for coach Danta Evans scored six points in OT to key the victory.
“Densell has so much energy, and today he was really good,” said Evans. “He got some key stops and key steals for us.”
Walker said it was a great team win.
“Coach got after us because we came out with no intensity. We weren’t pressuring the ball, and we weren’t moving the ball.”
Walker fiished with 16 points, Weingart had 12, and BJ Andrews added 11.
Evans said that not having practice on Tuesday (the snow day) caused his team to start slowly.
“Our kids kept fighting and kept plugging away, and we got back in the game and found a way to win it.”
Weingart got a three to go to start the OT, and Walker, Locke and Andrews all scored in the final four minutes before St. Joe (18-7, 4-4) made a pair of free throws.
Locke said his team played good defense.
“That’s pretty much how we got the lead back,” said the junior center. “My father always said that basketball was a game of runs. They had their run and our run was bigger than their run. Our help defense was phenomenal in the second half.
Weingart said the comeback started with defense.
“We picked up the pressure.”
Weingart praised St. Joe’s effort.
“They work the ball really well, they shoot really well, and we needed to match their intensity.”
Kameron Williams lead the Mount with 22 points.
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| McDonogh 73, Mount St. Joseph 62, 2 OT | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Mount St. Joseph: Stepehnson 4, Lawrence 2, Windsor 10, Morton 8, Booth 4, Williams 22, Long 2, Nardolilo 8, Ross 2. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| McDonogh: Scott 1, Walker 16, Andrews 11, Weingart 12, Jorgensen 2, Jackson 7, Locke 24. |
