Even if some of the attendants packing Mount Saint Joseph’s gym were somehow unaware of the history of the two teams taking the floor — the consistent matchup schedule or the slim edge visiting St. Frances holds over Monday’s hosts in the 13 years since Nick Myles took over the Panthers — they likely could still feel the electricity present as soon as the rival Panthers and Gaels tipped off in the latest chapter of one of Baltimore’s best rivalries.
“It’s no pregame speech,” Myles said. “It’s St. Frances-St. Joe. That’s the pregame speech.”
Third-ranked St. Frances has generally cruised through the Baltimore Catholic League schedule, and despite their rivals best efforts, the Panthers picked up another double-digit win over the No. 4 Gaels, 64-51, to triumph in the marquee matchup.
But before the Panthers (19-4, 5-1) eventually ran away with the score in the fourth quarter, they had to diffuse the frisky Gaels, who fed off of their home crowd populating the purple and cream bleachers.
MSJ’s Aaron Early ignited the raucous student section and kept stride with the well-oiled Panther attack with his lefty stroke and pull-up game, echoing the tremendous touch the visitors demonstrated on their rim attempts and midrange jumpers at the game’s start.
The Gaels guard rose above the St. Frances perimeter defenders to score anywhere he wanted within the arc, helping to force the favored Panthers into early potential upset watch-territory.
He scored Mount St. Joseph’s first six and finished the first quarter with eight points, showing that it wasn’t impossible to penetrate the vaunted Panthers defense. Scoring runs like this were a special affront to a coach like Myles, who classifies his squad as “defense-first.”
The Gaels hit on enough long-2s to stay within 18-17 of St. Frances early in the second. Myles had seen enough for a timeout, where he instructed his defenders to raise the temperature on the opposing ball handlers.
“You’ve got to put pressure on the ball, and then you gotta make sure that you keep the guys out of the lane,” he said. “I think when the game was close early, they were getting into the lane, and once we prevented them getting that lane, we stretched our lead a little bit.”
That “little bit” of lead stretching resulted in some momentum-crushing defensive plays, the kind that silence a rowdy crowd and put the enemy in a hole they can never dig themselves out of.
Quick hands to disrupt passing lanes, strip-steals and forced five-second inbounding violations defined the next five minutes, a stretch in which the Panthers rattled off 10 straight points before going into the half boasting a 32-21 lead.
Wing stoppers like Trent Egberimolen held Early scoreless in the second quarter and ineffective before garbage time commenced deep in the second half, as the Panthers maintained their pressure.
Their suffocating defense around the arc exposed the Gaels’ lack of tertiary shot creators while the paint protection swallowed drivers whole. By the time St. Frances unleashed its devastating half-court press in the second half, the blindsided Gaels couldn’t help but succumb to giving up several late turnovers near their own basket.
“We can do this all season,” Egberimolen said. “We just gotta execute. Once we play together, it’s easy for us.”
He led the team in scoring with 17 thanks to his combination of shooting and size, one of four Panthers to connect on at least five field goals.
Myles, always concerned with effort and how that translates onto the basketball court, sees late January, a period he calls “championship time,” as good a time as any to play their best basketball.
To maintain their winning, though, they’ll have to run through Mount Saint Joseph one more time on Feb. 3. Myles remains confident that his Panthers will maintain their two-way edge now that they’re contributing to a competitive relationship they grew up around.
“The guys have been watching this game since they were small,” he said. “This has been the best rivalry in Baltimore basketball the last 10 years.”
