By BOB HOUGH For The Capital Basketball teams will use a box-and-one defense in an attempt to limit the opposing team's main scoring threat, and that's exactly the defense St. Frances came out in to start yesterday's game at top-ranked Archbishop Spalding. The reason for the box-and-one was Spalding's Rudy Gay, and all the Connecticut-bound forward did was drop 35 points on the Panthers in a 79-67 win for the Cavaliers. Gay hit three 3-pointers in the first quarter and finished the day 14-for-17 from the field, as the Cavaliers spotted the Panthers the first four points of the game, but never trailed the rest of the way. "We took a calculated gamble that they would come out in a box-and-one, so we spent an hour and a half (Saturday) working solely on the box-and-one," Spalding coach Mike Glick said. "I talked to Rudy about seeing it, and I thought he and the rest of our team were well-prepared for it." Gay put on quite a show for the packed crowd, adding 12 rebounds and 10 blocked shots for a triple-double. He had an electrifying one-handed slam on a fast-break, went behind his head for a reverse dunk after beating a defender on the baseline, and cleaned up two missed shots with emphatic put backs. His 35 points was a career-high and came just five days after a 26-point, 11-rebound performance in the Cavaliers' win over Dudley (N.C.) in the fifth-place game at the Beach Ball Classic in Myrtle Beach, S.C. "We had to come out and let everybody know we're better than them," Gay said, referring to the fact that St. Frances came in at 12-1 and the No. 1 team in the Baltimore metropolitan area. "I think this was a statement win," Glick said. "Our goal is to win the Baltimore Catholic League/MIAA, and I think this was a challenge to our kids playing the number one team in Baltimore." Gay went 4-for-6 on three-pointers and was 10-for-11 from inside the arc. He had 19 of Spalding's first 29 points and 24 of the it's first 41, as the Cavaliers built the lead to as many as 18 points in the second half. St. Frances would only get as close as 12 points the rest of the way. "Rudy is a special player, and when he gets it going the way he was tonight he's very tough to defend," Glick said. Lost in the shadows of Gay's performance was the defensive play and the guard play of the Cavaliers. Spalding held St. Frances scoreless for the first four minutes of the second quarter, as they turned a three-point lead to a 13-point lead midway through the quarter and took an 11-point lead into halftime. With the Panthers keying on Gay, guards Justin Castleberry (15 points, five assists), Marquis Sullivan (12 points, five rebounds) and Jesse Brooks (six points, nine assists) were able to penetrate for layups or kick-outs to Gay. "We're more than just Rudy Gay. We have an outstanding basketball club, I've very proud of the way our backcourt played," Glick said. There's not much time to enjoy this win, as the Cavaliers will face league foe Cardinal Gibbons tomorrow night. They just returned from the Beach Ball Classic in Myrtle Beach, which included games with nationally-ranked Edgewater (Fla.) and Dudley (N.C.). "I think the traveling gets you ready for games like this. We have not had any easy games this season, but I think with the team we have and the mental makeup of the team, we're up for the challenge," Glick said. St. Frances (12-2) 14 8 15 30 _67 Spalding (9-1) 17 16 21 25 _79St. Frances (67) Alexander 4(2) 0-2 10, Brown 4(1) 3-6 12, Chase 3 2-4 8, Edwards 3 0-0 6, Harris 6(6) 5-5 23, Leeds 1 0-0 2, Yancey 2 2-3 6. TOTALS: 23(9) 12-20 67. Spalding (79) Brooks 2 2-2 6, Castleberry 4 7-8 15, Dixon 3 0-2 6, Galinat 2(1) 0-0 5, Gay 14(4) 3-6 35, Sullivan 6 0-0 12, Angion 0 0-0 0, Bisciotti 0 0-0 0, Cornell 0 0-0 0, Jones 0 0-2 0, John 0 0-2 0, Loughry 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 31(5) 12-22 79. Published January 05, 2004, The Capital, Annapolis, Md. Copyright © 2004 The Capital, Annapolis, Md.