Five Takeaways: John Carroll vs Mt. St. Joseph
The high school basketball season is finally underway around the city of Baltimore. With most of the private schools tipping off their seasons last week, last night brought us an outstanding way to open up MIAA A Conference play with the defending champion Mt. St. Joseph Gaels traveled to John Carroll to take on the Patriots.
John Carroll came out with relentless energy and earned a commanding 74-53 win behind key performances from a few of their main players.
Here are five takeaways from the game:
Montez Mathis is a match up nightmare
From the tip, Mathis looked to send a statement to the rest of the league that no one is going to match up with him. The 6’4 Rutgers commit led all scorers with 30 points, 12 rebounds and six steals. He scored the ball in a variety of ways. With Mathis, if he gets a few dunks early on, it really boosts his confidence with his outside shot. That exactly what took place last night. Mathis had a two-handed putback dunk over a defender and followed it with two breakaway dunks in transition. From there, he had a killer mentality. Mathis hit two three’s and his energy was unmatched on the offensive glass. No matter who was in his way, he used his strength to power through defenders arms and still managed to finish the shot. The Gaels simply had no answer for him defensively, and that’ll likely be the case for many teams on the Patriots’ schedule this season.
Jalen Smith continues to display his versatility
Coming into last night’s game, there were question of whether or not the Patriots were going to be able to contain the 6’9 Maryland commit. Smith was the lone bright spot for Mt. St. Joe as he tallied 26 points and did so with great versatility. This summer was big for Smith in terms of expanding his game out on the perimeter and making plays off the dribble. He mixed it up well by nailing a three, hitting pull-up jumpers off the dribble in the mid-range area and working on the block with his back to the basket. Defensively, Smith was a force as usual with his length to disrupt and block shots.
No Immanuel Quickley? No Problem
If someone told you that a high school team was missing their star point guard who has committed to Kentucky, it’d be fair to think the team would see a big drop off. Not the Patriots. Contributions from players such as Yavuz Gultekin, Nigel Haughton and Cameron Byers were key in the win. As a team, the Patriots mixed it up defensively and kept the Gaels guessing with different schemes. They also dominated the glass on both ends. Their success on the offensive glass could be pinpointed as the reason this game got out of hand according to the scoreboard.
Nigel Haughton proves again he can hold the keys to the offense
This isn’t the first time that Haughton has been given the keys to the offense with either Quickley or Mathis out. Last season, both Mathis and Quickley missed some time due to different injuries and in their place, Haughton had to step up. He did so once again last night by facilitating and defending 94 feet the entire game. He finished with seven points on the night, but his impact was felt on a much deeper level than what can be seen on the box score.
Don’t judge the Gaels off of this loss
It’s only the second game in, but people will still want to label the Gaels as a disappointment for whatever reason. The fact is, they’re the defending MIAA/BCL champions who are loaded with talent. Daryl Morsell’s presence is most certainly a void that needs to be filled with this year’s team, but that’s the beauty of the process. They have arguably the best player in the league in Smith, a dynamic scorer in James Bishop and key senior guards in Tyree Myers and Kendall McMillian that aren’t going to let this one loss get to their heads. Once this team finds their niche and puts together a solid game defensively, you’ll see just how dangerous they can be.