Mike Burke
Cumberland Times-News
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FROSTBURG — Baltimore’s Mount St. Joseph Gaels worked through a choppy first half and were able to, in the words of head coach Pat Clatchey, “get better movement and get into transition” to turn a three-point halftime lead into a 14-point third-quarter lead, and then a 59-41 victory over the Judge Memorial Bulldogs Thursday at Bobcat Arena to reach the semifinals of the 50th Alhambra Catholic Invitational Tournament.
Two-time Baltimore Catholic League Player of the Year Eric Atkins showed what future Notre Dame pedigree looks like as he was instrumental in getting the Gaels into transition, scoring eight points in the third quarter and eight in the fourth to finish with a game-high 21 points and six assists. Forward Ryley Beaumont scored 17 points, while guard Matt Miller had a game-high nine rebounds.
For Salt Lake City’s Judge Memorial, playing in its final three games under their legendary head coach Jim Yerkovich, 6-foot-10 Utah all-state center Will Whitt had 20 points and six rebounds, while all-state guard Zach Myaer scored 13 points and had five assists.
Whitt scored 13 points by the half as Judge trailed by just 23-20, but he was able to hit just one field goal in the second half as Mount St. Joe’s center Trey Clinton gradually forced him into taking deeper shots in the paint.
“I look at this game as we had a three-point lead at halftime,” said Clatchey. “We got some one-on-ones, we played the first half to get to the second half and then made some shots.”
The Gaels committed just five turnovers.
“Understand,” said Clatchey, “Judge was back in that zone, so they didn’t try to force us too much. They dared us to beat them from the outside. In the second half, we had better movement, and we got into transition.”
The Gaels, who will play Gonzaga in tonight’s 7:30 p.m. semifinal, shot 14-for-28 in the second half, and 7-for-12 in the fourth quarter.
Atkins hit a three-pointer to open the second half to make it 26-20 and a Beaumont follow produced the first plus-10 lead of the game at 1:53, 37-26. Atkins scored on a follow, then scored on an inbounds play and converted the three-point play to make it 51-30 at 4:43 of the fourth.
Judge Memorial will play Bishop Walsh today, 4 p.m., in one consolation semifinal.
“Judge is a well-coached team,” said Clatchey. “This is Coach Yerkovich’s last tournament, and we’ve played them a couple of times before. He gets the most out of his players. They are well coached. They play to strength. They prefer the slow tempo. They play zone, they pick their spots.
“They know what they’re doing.”
Mike Burke is the sports editor of the Cumberland Times-News. He can be reached at mburke@times-news.com.
