Chris Appel
Cumberland Times-News
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FROSTBURG — Greg Lewis, Jr., Wayne Sparrow and Shakir Brown all scored in double figures as St. Frances used offensive bursts to pull away from Cathedral and win 77-52 in the second game of the second day of the 50th ACIT at Frostburg State University.
Lewis was active inside all day, hitting 7-of-12 from the floor with nothing coming from outside the three-point line. He finished 5-of-6 from the free throw line, and was a presence on defense as well by claiming a game-high 15 rebounds, more than double any other player on the floor. Sparrow did his damage from the inside and outside by combining a pair of threes into his scoring breakdown. He also led the team with six assists and four steals.
Brown came off the bench with some smooth shooting to finish with 14 points on six field goals, two of which were three-pointers. Dante Holmes scored only six points, but added seven assists, six rebounds and three steals.
The Panthers took a 7-4 lead less than two minutes in when R.J. Williams converted a three-point play. That lead lasted about three minutes until Jamar Coke picked up six of his 25 points on back-to-back threes with 3:08 left to play. A shot by Sparrow at 1:43 of the first quarter gave St. Frances a 17-16 advantage and the Panthers would not trail again.
The second quarter saw the lead grow from 23-20 at the end of the first quarter to 41-28 by halftime. The closest the Gaels would get in the second period was a 25-22 count 1:15 into play.
The Panthers scored only 13 points during the third quarter, but watched as Lewis scored seven of them. Their lead grew as well when the defense held Cathedral to seven points in the quarter.
Brown stepped up in the beginning of the fourth quarter by scoring eight points in the first 73 seconds. Cathedral’s Coke, who scored a game-high 22 points, got seven points over a span of one minute and 12 seconds, but the Gaels wouldn’t get any closer than a 66-50 score with 4:14 remaining in the fourth.
Besides acting as his team’s leading scorer, Coke tossed in a team-high four rebounds. The Gaels were outrebounded as a team by a margin of 34-24, and trailed in assists 20-9. Norman Darrell sank four field goals and two free throws to score 10 points.
Winners of the three-point and free throw contests were announced at halftime. Making 21 of a possible 25 tries, Mount St. Joe’s Matt Miller took first in the three-point contest. Ryley Beaumont, a Mount St. Joe’s teammate, also made 21 to place second, and Gonzaga’s Cedrick Lindsay made 16 for third. The top three free-throw shooters all finished 18-for-20 with the tie breaker going to most consecutive made. Bishop Walsh freshman Liam Rhodes made 11 straight to take first place with fellow Spartan Pat Jones finishing second. Dan Williams of Gonzaga placed third.
St. Frances (23-10) will play Judge Memorial in today’s consolation championship beginning at 4:45. Cathedral (20-17) plays Bishop Walsh at 3 p.m. in the seventh-place game.
Chris Appel is a sports writer for the Cumberland Times-News. He can be reached at cappel@times-news.com.
