Five Key Questions: John Carroll vs Mount St. Joseph
Earlier this afternoon at The Smith Center, the Gaels of Mount St. Joseph played host to a surging John Carroll Patriots team. John Carroll was coming off a solid win over McDonogh on Friday, while Mount St. Joe was looking…
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Continue ReadingEarlier this afternoon at The Smith Center, the Gaels of Mount St. Joseph played host to a surging John Carroll Patriots team. John Carroll was coming off a solid win over McDonogh on Friday, while Mount St. Joe was looking to bounce back after a surprising loss to Boys’ Latin. Considering both of these teams are in the same division of the MIAA A Conference, it brought even more significance to the game. The Gaels were able to bounce back in a commanding way as they used an impressive third quarter to separate themselves and go on to win 89-63 to improve to 11-3 overall and 4-2 in league play. John Carroll falls to 10-3 overall and 3-1 in MIAA play.
Let’s take a look at five key questions from the contest:
Who led Mount St. Joseph?
George Washington commit Tyler Brelsford finished with a team-high 24 points. The 6-foot-2 combo guard scored in variety of ways. In the half court, he operated in a bunch of ball screens to give himself space in the mid-range for clean shots. When he wasn’t settling from 15-to-17 feet, Brelsford was putting his head down and attacking the rim, seeking contact on the way to draw fouls. He shot 12 free-throws in the game, converting on nine of them. Where Brelsford made an impact early on came in transition both as a scorer and passer. He made sound, timely decisions that both resulted in points for his team. John Carroll hit a slew of three’s in the first half, but fortunately, Brelsford kept answering with buckets of his own to help keep the lead.
Who led John Carroll?
2022 guard Tyson Commander was a lone bright spot for the Patriots. The 6-foot-3 lefty finished with a game-high 27 points. Commander had to create many looks himself, as the Gaels’ defensive game plan was to swarm the John Carroll guards both on and off the ball. He routinely pulled up in his defender’s face deep from three in the first half and buried four of them. In the second half, Mount St. Joe put more of an emphasis on crowding Commander on the catch, so he attacked the basket by putting the ball on the deck was awarded with fouls in the process. He finished 9-of-12 from the charity stripe for the game. While John Carroll struggled as a team, it was good to see Commander still put out an impressive performance. He never got frustrated when the game got out of hand and remained level-headed.
Who set an early tone?
Fairfield commit Jason Edokpayi had stretches during this game where he looked unstoppable. In the beginning of the game, the Gaels looked to him early inside to put pressure on Cesar Tchilombo of John Carroll. Edokpayi scored a couple of over the shoulder hook shots before stepping out to 15 feet and knocking down a couple of jumpers. It kept John Carroll on their toes as a team defensively and was a big reason why Tchilombo caught himself out of position long enough to pick up a few early fouls. Coming out of halftime, Edokpayi sparked the run that separated the Gaels for good. He scored eight points in the first four minutes, including two back-to-back dunks as a result of him sprinting the floor in transition. Edokpayi recorded 16 points overall.
What played into the win for the Gaels?
The end result from Brelsford and Edokpayi were good indications of why Mount St. Joe was able to win this game, but there were many other factors that played a part. 2020 guard Cam Sapienza came off the bench early and supplied energy and immediate floor spacing with his outside shooting. The 6-foot-1 guard nailed four triples in the first half. It demanded more of the John Carroll defense’s attention, which ultimately opened up driving lanes for others to attack. Sapienza chipped in with 13 key bench points in the victory.
Transition was where the Gaels gained an advantage. They quickly found sprinting guards off John Carroll misses or turnovers and converted them into points. In the half court, they were effective in attacking mismatches. John Carroll switched all screens when they were in man-to-man defense. Many times, a Mount St. Joe guard would get invovled in a ball screen with a big, forcing Tchilombo or Joel Turay to switch onto the ball handler. From there, they either attacked the switching big, or got it inside to Edokpayi, who was being guarded by a smaller guard.
What now for the Patriots?
John Carroll is a young team who has seen plenty of success early on this season. Hitting adversity will force them to look into the mirror and realize they aren’t where they have to be in order to truly contend for a MIAA/BCL title. This is a good thing. Get these lessons out of the way now, so you can be better prepared when the playoffs arrive. Head coach Seth Goldberg and associate head coach Jeremy Mellady are a couple of the best you’ll find in establishing culture and keeping it strong throughout challenges. I have no doubt that this loss will turn out to be a positive lesson for both the coaching staff and the team.