By Mark Thomas February 22, 2004 MDVarsity.com Magazine Staff With his team trailing St. Frances by 9 at 26-17 with 2:57 left in the first half and with the team still feeling the sluggish, after-effects of a heart-breaking, overtime 76-75 loss to Mt. St. Joseph, Spalding head coach Mike Glick leaned in a little closer to his team’s huddle. With confidence in his voice, he told his players that “Our shots aren’t falling, but you’ll win it with defense”. It was a prediction that made you think Glick knew something that the rest of us watching didn’t, because up until that point, Spalding’s defense wasn’t much better than its offense. In the end, Glick’s words proved to be prophetic, as Spalding rallied from a 9 point halftime deficit to defeat St. Frances 62-59 in the MIAA playoffs. Rudy Gay led the way with 21 points and a typical Rudy-esque stat sheet stuffer performance. St. Frances did its best to push Gay out of the low post and make the McDonald’s All-American catch the ball farther away from the basket. They did and he still scored. And when he wasn’t scoring, he was being unselfish in transition, working a textbook 2 on 1 when the game was on the line. In fact, Spalding finally caught and overtook St. Frances after Gay stole the ball and paired with wingman Jesse Brooks in transition against a lone St. Frances defender. Gay drew the defense, hit Brooks (12 points) in stride with a pass and Brooks not only made the basket, but was fouled. The converted free throw put Spalding up 39-38 with :23 left in the 3rd period. In multiple key sequences, Gay was able to grab offensive rebounds and put-back his teammates misses. A Gay offensive board and dunk put Spalding on top 41-40 to start the 4th period. A Gay follow put Spalding up 53-50 with 3:15 left in regulation. And with Spalding struggling to hold on to the ball and a 58-57 lead with just :17 left in the 4th, Gay went to the basket where he got a bucket and a foul. The four point, 61-57 lead held up, but not without St. Frances getting a tough look at a possible tying three-pointer at the buzzer. Spalding trailed by as much as 13 at 30-17 in the first half. A quick look at Spalding’s results for the season indicated that the St. Frances offensive output spelled T-R-O-U-B-L-E for Spalding, because in games that Spalding’s opponents have scored 60 or more points, the Cavaliers (24-6) are only 5-6. St. Frances went right at Spalding’s opening 2-1-2 defense and sliced it like a steak knife. Multiple times the Panthers were able to pass or attack out of the high post and get high percentage shots. Moreover, not only was Spalding dealing with post- Mt. St. Joseph malaise, but they’d already beaten St. Frances twice during the regular season. St. Frances 6-6 sophomore Rashawn Alexander had his way, with 8 points by halftime. He nailed baseline jumpers, threw down a dunk when the defense didn’t get back in time and he was effective from the high post. About the only thing he didn’t do well was convert free throws. Meantime, St. Frances 6-4 F Gordon Chase was blatantly telling a Spalding player that he wasn’t going to bother guarding him. The irony is that this same guy who indicated that defense wasn't necessary would foul out of the game in the fourth quarter. Looking for a way to energize his lethargic troops in the 2nd quarter, Glick called time out and told them that they were switching to man to man defense. The move may have been strategic, but perhaps equally as much motivational. You can’t be as stagnant when you have to chase your opponent around. Slowly, Spalding started to respond, but a comeback wouldn’t be easy, because St. Frances could smell blood. Early in the 2nd half, with Spalding creeping closer, St. Frances guard Darron Edwards threw a lob pass towards the basket, releasing the ball from just inside half court. On the other end, 6-3 teammate Gordon Brown came from the opposite side of the court to meet the pass in mid-air. The pass was a tad high and actually touched the backboard as an in-flight Brown caught it with two hands, took it off the backboard and slammed it home. The St. Frances contingent rose to their feet and Brown let out a yell to celebrate the highlight reel maneuver. The dunk put St. Frances up 32-26, but moments later Rudy Gay answered for Spalding. A baseline jumper brought Spalding to within 32-28. After a defensive stop, Gay put-back a miss to bring Spalding within two at 32-30. The stakes were raised and neither team backed off an inch the rest of the way. Down the stretch, Spalding got key contributions from an attacking Jesse Brooks and Johann Jones who came in off the bench. With things tight, Glick mentioned to Jones that he was going to have to do his part and the 6-4 sophomore responded. With Spalding defending a three point lead, he drew a charge. The ensuing trip down court to the offensive end, Jones hit a high percentage shot to push the lead to five at 55-50 with 2:40 to go. Spalding also got 10 points from Justin Castleberry. Coach William Wells’ St. Frances squad was led by Rashawn Alexander’s 18, Gordon Brown’s 18, Gordon Chase’s 9, while star guard Darnell Harris was held to just 5 points. And as a statistical note, Spalding held St. Frances (23-6) under the magical number of 60 points. That improves Spalding’s record to 19-0 when holding the opposition under 60 points. Spalding advances to meet Cardinal Gibbons at 8PM on Monday. The game will be played at Gilman.