Loaded field tips off 60th ACIT
MIKE BURKE
Allegany Radio Corporation Sports
FROSTBURG — Three nationally-ranked teams, including defending and
25-time champion DeMatha Catholic, two newcomers, both in the physical
and denominational sense, a six-time tournament champion, an old friend
from the North and the battle-tested host school
concluding its second giant step on the national scale will make for
one of the most diverse and powerful fields in tournament history as
Wamba Caravan No. 89 celebrates its 60th Alhambra Catholic Invitational
Tournament beginning today, 4 p.m., at Frostburg
State.
The Stags (30-3), of Hyattsville, return to defend their ACIT title of a
year ago and to further build on their history as a national power and
do so as Washington Catholic Athletic Conference champion for the record
41st time and the No. 6 team in the ESPN
National High School Top 25.
St. Frances Academy (38-4), the Baltimore Catholic League regular-season
and tournament champion, returns to the ACIT as the No. 17 team in the
ESPN national poll, while Paul VI (27-8), of Fairfax, Va., is ranked No.
24 nationally and is the Virginia Independent
Schools state champion as well as the WCAC runner-up.
In all, this weekend’s field consists of five teams that have been
nationally ranked this season, as six-time ACIT champion Gonzaga College
High (25-10), of Washington, and St. Stephen’s and St. Agnes (28-4),
Arlington, Virginia, have also been ranked this
year. Meanwhile, host school Bishop Walsh (18-12) of Cumberland has
played as many as eight to 10 top-20 teams this season.
Speaking of St. Stephen’s and St. Agnes School, the Saints made ACIT
history when they became the first at-large non-Catholic school to be
invited to join the field. They are joined this year by Rock Creek
Christian Academy (28-7), of Upper Marlboro, the Maryland
Private Schools state champion, which accepted its ACIT invitation on
Monday after Malvern (Pa.) Prep withdrew from the tournament because of a
school-wide travel ban put into effect as a coronavirus precaution.
Also returning to the field for the first time in 10 years will be Cathedral High School (44-7), of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
St. Frances vs. SS. Stephen/Agnes
St. Stephen and St. Agnes will open ACIT play when it takes on St. Frances at 4 p.m.
The Saints, who are ranked No. 3 in the Washington Post high school
basketball poll, fell short in the VISAA Division I title game to Paul
VI.
St. Frances, the top-ranked team in the Baltimore Sun high school
basketball poll, completed its BCL sweep by adding the tournament
championship to the regular-season title by defeating Mount St. Joseph,
81-65.
The Panthers were led in the tournament by Most Valuable Player Adrian
“Ace” Baldwin, who scored 23 points in the championship game, with 10
rebounds and five assists, after dishing 16 assists in the Panthers’
semifinal win over Loyola Blakefield, in becoming
just the third player in BCL history to be named tournament MVP three
straight years.
The first two back-to-back-to-back BCL tournament MVPs were St. Frances’ Mark Karcher and St. Maria Goretti’s Rodney Monroe.
Karcher, former ACIT Most Valuable Player and Most Outstanding Player,
who led the Panthers to their only ACIT title, and the BCL’s last, in
1996, went on to star at Temple University before returning to St.
Frances to coach the Panthers. Monroe, a former ACIT
Most Outstanding Player, went on to star in college for North Carolina
State University.
Baldwin, thus, has put himself into pretty heady company, as Karcher and
Monroe are clearly two of the best players in the history of the BCL
and the ACIT.
Jamal West, 6-foot-5 senior forward, was named the BCL Jerry Savage
Player of the Year, averaging 16 points and nine rebounds a game.
St. Frances coach Nick Myles says West is the most dominant post player
he has coached in his nine seasons at St. Frances. Baldwin joined West
on first-team and was last year’s BCL Player of the Year.
Cathedral vs. Paul VI
At 5:45 p.m., Cathedral High plays Paul VI, the ACIT champion in 2014.
Cathedral finished third in the first National Senior Circuit National
Championship. After winning two games on the first day of the
tournament, the Gaels fell in the semifinals to Canada Top Flight,
89-84, in a back-and-forth contest that Cathedral had the
chance to tie in the final nine seconds.
Malcolm Maganda scored 33 points for the Gaels, including 24 points on
the strength of five 3-pointers in the fourth quarter alone. It marked
the second consecutive 30-point game for Maganda, who averages 15 points
a game.
“It will mean a great deal for our guys to go against talent that is in
the ACIT,” said Cathedral co-head coach Paul Taylor. “With all of those
D-I kids, to play against and compete with, they’ll see what it takes to
take their talents and their games to the
next level.”
Paul VI will certainly provide the Gaels with the Division I talent to
go against, as Jeremy Roach, a McDonald’s and Jordan All-American, is
committed to Duke, and junior Trevor Keels has received offers from Duke
and Virginia
“There is a prep circuit for kids all over (Canada),” Taylor said. “Not
many D-I kids play high school, and (the Senior Circuit National) was
the best high schools versus the best preps. It’s top-level competition
and we went 9-3 against prep competition this
year, and we’re pretty happy with that.
“We’re a high-scoring team, averaging 78 points. We go up and down and
turn our defense into offense with a 53-point differential. We have guys
who run and who knock down 3s.
“Bishop Harris averages 12 points a game and is one of the best pure shooters I’ve seen play.”
Paul VI is the No. 2 team in the Washington Post poll behind DeMatha.
DeMatha vs. Bishop Walsh
The prime-time game of Day 1 will be Game 3, as defending champion
DeMatha opens its title defense against host school Bishop Walsh at 7:30
p.m.
The Stags, who also won the WCAC regular-season title, defeated Paul VI,
70-56, in the WCAC playoffs final for head coach Mike Jones’ 500th
career win.
Jones succeeded the late Morgan Wootten as the DeMatha head coach 18
years ago and the WCAC title is the eighth under his leadership and
DeMatha’s 41st overall. The win also marks the 19th time the Stags have
won at least 30 games in a season.
DeMatha is led by two-time defending ACIT Most Valuable Player Hunter
Dickinson, 7-foot-1 center who is committed to Michigan. Earl Timberlake
is committed to Miami, while Paul Smith is committed to East Tennessee
State.
Five players in ACIT history, including Dickinson, have been named
back-to-back MVP: Ed Lawry, St. George’s, Pittsburgh (1961-62); Anthony
“Jo Jo” Hunter, Mackin, Washington, D.C. (1975-76), Ian Hummer, Gonzaga
(2008-09), Jerami Grant, DeMatha (2011-12) and
Dickinson (2018-19).
Bishop Walsh enters the final three games of Year 2 under head coach Dan
Prete, most recently coming up short to Rock Creek Christian in the
final of the Maryland Private Schools Championships. The Spartans have
faced one of the toughest schedules in the country,
so Prete is not concerned with his players experiencing stage fright
against the loaded ACIT field this weekend.
“The last year was just a blur,” Prete said. “The first year we were
learning the ropes. Now we’re on more stable legs and we tell our kids
to enjoy it more rather than survive. We always strive to do better.
We’re in year two, but we have high aims.
“I think with this team we’re still trying to build our culture. We have
a schedule that is second to none but this group has learned with each
other and played with each other, and to do what this team has done has
been incredible.
“We’ve played eight to 10 top 20 teams, and the travel … For the state
tournament alone, we logged 24 hours travel time in four days. So we’re
excited to be home.”
As for opening against DeMatha, one of the most famous high school
basketball programs in history, Prete said, “We’re not going to be
wide-eyed or in shock. We’re used to playing teams as good if not better
than DeMatha. With our past, our guys are not starry-eyed.
Our job is to prepare for them, not to be in awe of them.”
Prete says the ACIT is the perfect complement to the Bishop Walsh program and for the Spartan players.
“The community makes it special,” he said. “It’s such a wonderful
atmosphere. The crowds, that makes it big and it helps us connect the
kids to the community and helps us fit it all together.
“I think (inviting at-large teams) was a needed thing to do. (ACIT
chairman Joe Carter) and the people on the inside have a good pulse on
it. For the tournament to continue to grow they had to do this. The next
couple years, we’ll see better games, new teams
and new excitement. That will help it grow even more.”
Rock Creek vs. Gonzaga
The final game of the night is scheduled to begin at 9:15 p.m. when ACIT
newcomer Rock Creek Christian makes its debut against six-time ACIT
champion Gonzaga College High School, of Washington D.C.
The Eagles defeated Bishop Walsh most recently in the Maryland Private
Schools State Championships final, 74-62, fending off one Spartan run
after another, with BW getting as close as three points late in the
third quarter.
Coached by Lafayette Dublin, the Eagles were led junior forward Zaakir
Williamson with 26 points and senior guard Delonnie Hunt with 15 points.
Gonzaga, coached by Steve Turner, is ranked No. 4 in the Washington Post
Poll and most recently defeated Wilson for the DCSAA state title. The
Eagles are led by Terrance Williams, who is committed to Michigan; Myles
Stute, Vanderbilt and Chuck Harris, Butler.
Gonzaga has won four of its six ACIT titles under Turner.
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
