March 1, 2004 by Mark Thomas MDVarsity.com Magazine Staff Somehow Mount St. Joseph’s basketball team has been granted an exemption from the law of averages. For the 6th straight time, the Gaels beat Spalding in a down-to-the-wire nail-biter. The 36-33 win gives MSJ its 2nd consecutive BCL Tournament (33rd Annual) title and for the 2nd year in a row, it came at the expense of a good Spalding team. A Spalding team that had two looks at tying the game from three-point land, but neither fell and time expired. It was almost as if the P.A. announcer was taunting the yet to be introduced Mt. St. Joe squad when he added the extra modifiers to the final Spalding player to be introduced. “And the Baltimore Catholic League Player of the Year!…at forward…#21 Rudy Gay!” As if Mount St. Joe wasn’t fired up enough, that stoked it, because many from MSJ feel so strongly that 6-7 F Will Thomas should’ve been player of the year. Thomas may not have gotten the individual award, but down the stretch, he made sure his team took home the tournament trophy. MSJ reclaimed the lead for the first time since early in the first quarter when sophomore G Gregory Woody Jr. drilled a 3 to put MSJ up 33-30 with 4:10 to play in the 4th period. Spalding had two good looks at the basket to cut the deficit to 1 point, but both times Will Thomas blocked the shots. Thomas was also the game’s leading scorer with 12 points. Thomas affords MSJ a luxury most BCL/MIAA teams don’t enjoy. An athletic 6-7, he can be assigned to Spalding star Rudy Gay and do a more than respectable job. The Gaels don’t have to switch out of their man to man defense. Thomas was also a constant presence on the glass. He had the game’s only dunk courtesy of an offensive rebound in the first half. He scored 4 of Mount St. Joe’s 7 3rd quarter points, allowing the Gaels to enter the 4th period down just 1 at 28-27. Despite trailing for most of the way, Mount St. Joe head coach Pat Clatchey looked remarkably calm and confident on the sideline throughout. It was almost as if everything was going according to plan, even when his team trailed. Spalding led by as much as 28-22 in the 3rd period. As you learn to expect from Mike Glick teams, Spalding employed a variety of defenses. Minus Rudy Gay though, Spalding is not an exceptional rebounding team. At key times, MSJ players were able to grab offensive rebounds, which often led to points. Down 33-31 with 1:25 to go, Spalding forced a turnover and looked about ready to tie the game up. On a 3 on 1 break, Spalding had numbers in its favor, but an attempted touch pass went awry. *Game Notes* -- Mt. St. Joe head coach Pat Clatchey is also the team bus driver. We pulled up right next to him as we arrived. When Mt. St. Joe got off the bus, an overzealous bunch of Spalding fans greeted them. One Spalding student was wearing nothing but bikini briefs and had painted his entire body red! Even the Mt. St. Joe players had to start laughing at the site of the young man telling them that they were going down. -- MSJ and Spalding could conceivably meet again at the Alhambra Tournament! --We asked an MIAA coach about the prospective opening at Loyola College and threw a few names at him. He responded that there are "two types of jobs- a stepping stone and a kidney stone. Loyola is a kidney stone." --The 33rd Annual BCL Tournament is very well run. Its held at Goucher College, which may be a bit small, but everything is well organized. Courtside seats are sold to VIPs. A DJ spins records throughout the contest and he's got great taste in "event" music. And the game program is 2nd to none. It not only has every team's roster with #s, names, grade, position, height and weight, but also their game-by-game league results. The program also has a historical element with photos of past tournament championship teams. All the old "all tournament teams" are listed as well. Hats off to whoever put the program together.