WCAC powers Paul VI, Gonzaga join ACIT field
MIKE BURKE
Allegany Radio Corporation Sports
Six down, two to go, as Paul VI Catholic, Fairfax, Virginia, and Gonzaga College High, Washington, D.C., of the powerful Washington Catholic Athletic Conference, have been invited to participate in the 60th Alhambra Catholic Invitational Tournament.
The WCAC, commonly regarded as the toughest high school basketball tournament in the country, now stands with three teams thus far in this year’s ACIT, which will be played March 12-14 at Frostburg State University, as the Panthers and the Eagles join defending and 25-time tournament champion DeMatha Catholic in the field.
Paul VI, which was ranked No. 3 in the Washington Post D.C. area poll last week, just defeated DeMatha on Sunday, 74-65, topping off a big week that began with a 75-72 win over Gonzaga, in which the Panthers were down by as many as 18 points.
The Stags were ranked No. 2 in the ESPN national poll last week and No. 1 in the Post D.C. poll.
The invitations of Paul VI and Gonzaga put the ACIT field at six, with St. Stephen’s and St. Agnes, of Alexandria, Va., Cathedral, of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, and host school Bishop Walsh, of Cumberland, having also accepted invitations.
Gonzaga, which won the 2017 tournament, is tied with Roman Catholic of Philadelphia with six ACIT titles, the second-most behind DeMatha, while Paul VI won the ACIT title in 2014.
SS. Stephen’s/Agnes, the first at-large non-Catholic school to be invited to the ACIT, just won its second IAC championship in a row, and was ranked No. 2 in last week’s Washington Post poll.
At some point this season, DeMatha, Gonzaga, Paul VI and SS. Stephen’s/Agnes have been ranked in the ESPN national poll.
Meanwhile, in the Baltimore Catholic League, the St. Frances Academy Panthers, ranked No. 8 in the last ESPN national Top 25, avenged its only Baltimore area loss over the weekend, defeating rival Mount St. Joseph, 73-69, to clinch first place in the BCL.
Ranked No. 1 in the Baltimore Sun area rankings, the Panthers finish the regular season 33-3 and enter this week’s MIAA A tournament at 18-1 in conference play.
St. Frances trailed the Gaels by 13 points with 5:00 to go, before “Ace” Baldwin, the reigning Baltimore Metro Player of the Year, scored 13 of his game-high 18 points in the final 3:49 to lead the Panthers to the comeback win.
Mount St. Joseph, which defeated St. Frances in the first meeting between the teams, 62-53, concludes the regular season at 24-5. The Gaels will play Glenelg Country in Tuesday’s MIAA A quarterfinal, while the Panthers host St. Vincent Pallotti.
Bishop Walsh, coming off a loss to Sunrise Christian Academy of Wichita, Kansas, in last weekend’s Heartland Hoops Classic in Grand Island, Nebraska, has now played at least seven teams that have been ranked in the ESPN national Top 25 this season.
Mike Burke writes about sports for Allegany Radio and Pikewood Digital. He began covering sports for the Prince George’s County Sentinel in 1981 and joined the Cumberland Times-News sports staff in 1984. He was the sports editor of the Times-News for nearly 30 years. Contact him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @MikeBurkeMDT
