Chris Appel
Cumberland Times-News
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FROSTBURG — Trey Davis scorched St. Frances from the foul line, going 9-for-10 over the final 5:18, as St. Benedictine scored 49 points in the second half to beat the Panthers 72-56 in the second game of the 50th ACIT.
Davis scored more than twice as many points as any player on the St. Frances roster by finishing with 29. He led the Cadets with nine rebounds, which helped his team to a 27-12 advantage in that department.
Despite superior statistics, it was Benedictine that found itself struggling the most in the early going. The Panthers worked their way to a 8-1 lead when Wayne Sparrow converted a three-point play with a foul shot at 5:11 of the first quarter. The spread stayed near seven points with Sparrow and Dante Holmes keeping St. Frances in front.
The Cadets began a little run in the late first and early second period, and pulled the score to 14-13 just 14 seconds into the second, and took a 15-1-4 at 7:15. St. Frances retook the lead on the next possession and was able to carry a 31-24 lead into halftime.
“I think we were a little too quick on offense at first,” said Sean McAloon, Benedictine head coach. “We seemed to want to rush to get a shot and we weren’t getting any good ones. After we settled down we began to get the shots, but just weren’t making them.”
The Cadets pulled another run at the beginning of the third quarter to turn a 31-24 deficit into 31-31 tie two minutes into the quarter. They took the lead with 4:46 left, lost it shortly after, but took it for good on a Davis three-pointer with 1:11 left.
“The second half we wanted to get smarter,” said McAloon. “We had nine turnovers in the first half and needed to fix that. The boys took to it and I think we got the first four baskets of the second half, all of them on layups.”
Davis owned the fourth from the foul line, finishing 16-for-20 on the night. Mike Gbinijie, a junior committed to play at Duke, scored 18 points, grabbed seven rebounds and blocked six shots.
The Panthers got 13 points from Holmes, 12 from Sam Cassell, Jr. and 11 each from Greg Lewis, Jr. and Sparrow.
Benedectine will play in tonight’s 9:15 contest against the winner of Thursday’s fourth game between DeMatha and Cathedral. St. Frances goes at 5:45 against the loser of that game.
Chris Appel is a sports writer for the Times-News. He can be reached at cappel@times-news.com
