Steve Luse
Cumberland Times-News
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FROSTBURG — Matt Miller scored the Mount St. Joseph’s first 13 points and finished with a game-high 20, leading the Baltimore Catholic League champions to a 53-49 victory over Benedictine of Richmond, Va., for third-place in the 50th Alhambra Catholic Invitational Tournament on Saturday night at Frostburg State University’s Bobcat Arena.
The Gaels, who fell to Gonzaga, 74-67, in the semifinals Friday night, closed their season with a 32-5 record. Benedictine, a 66-54 victim of DeMatha, finishes 24-9.
Baltimore Catholic League Most Valuable Player Eric Atkins was held to 12 points by the tight Benedictine defense, but made some key foul shots down the stretch and contributed a team-high seven rebounds and seven assists. Ryley Beaumont added 11 points for the Gaels.
Benedictine had three players in double figures with Trey Davis scoring 16, Mike Gbinije 13 and Kevin Gill 11.
“It was a hard game to play and you had two teams that were hoping to play for the championship,” said coach Pat Clatchey. “I’m proud of our players and they beat a very good Benedictine team. Not many teams end their season with a win and we had a heck of a season with a 32-5 record.”
The Gaels struggled at times offensively, but was able to come up with some clutch plays and enough foul shots to pull out the win.
“I thought we played some good defense and struggled on offense, but we found a way to win,” added the MSJ coach.
Miller, a 6-foot-3 senior headed to Seton Hill (Pa.) put the Mount on the board first with a three-pointer and had the Gaels up 8-0 at the 3:30 mark with a jumper from the side and another trey.
After missing their first seven shots, the Cadets scored the final nine points of the opening quarter to go up 9-8.
Gbinije, a 6-7 junior already committed to Duke, scored on a fastbreak to give Benedictine a 11-8 lead to start the second period.
Miller answered with his third three-pointer and a short jumper to give the Gaels a lead they never relinquished. Atkins, who has signed with Notre Dame, was fouled while hitting a three-pointer and completed the four-point play for a 17-12 lead with 5:24 left in the half, that ended with MSJ on top 23-20.
Beaumont bucketed a three-pointer to give the Gaels a 30-25 lead at the 2:30 mark in the third quarter and they went into the final eight minutes leading 31-27.
Miller, who was shut down in the third period, connected on his fourth three-pointer to have MSJ up 42-34 with 3:45 left. Atkins converted one foul shots and Beaumont slammed down a dunk an a fastbreak for a 45-34 advantage with only 3:02 on the clock.
But the Cadets weren’t ready to quit and Davis responded with a three-point player and a drive to cut the lead to six points (45-39) with 1:20 remaining.
Miller converted two foul shots to push the gap back to eight, but the Cadets were able to take advantage of some missed fouls and were down by only two points (48-46) after a R.J. Price three-pointer with 29 clicks on the clock.
Atkins made three more foul shots and Brian Morton converted two to nail down the victory.
“Honestly, I saw two teams going through the motions early,” said Benedictine coach Sean McAloon. “Both teams had tough losses last night and they reacted better. We always play good defense, but they did more on offense. They made more big plays than we did.”
Steve Luse is a sports writer for the Cumberland Times-News. He can be reached at sluse@times-news.com.
