Seniors honored as Mustangs lose their hard-fought season finale

Jelani Scott ‘12 |Staff Writer

The BMHS Varsity Boys Basketball team (13-15) came to play in their tough Senior Night game against the #2 ranked DeMatha Stags (25-3) but fell short, 60-38. Mustang and Stag fans alike packed into the BMHS Main Gym for last Friday night’s anticipated matchup and the energy was electric. The rival schools had previously faced on January 18th and the Stags took that matchup at Showplace Arena, 90-75, so the Mustangs were looking for revenge.

DeMatha took control early by winning the tip-off but McNamara was able to play some tough defense and deny the Stags the game’s first basket. DeMatha standout Jerami Grant ’12 scored the first point of the game, going 1-2 at the free throw line, and, shortly after, Guard Stephan Jiggets ’13 scored the first field goal of the game with a layup followed by an and-one foul shot, giving BMHS a 3-1 lead. The game got testy early on as Forward Damian Prince ‘13 committed a hard foul on Grant as he was driving to the rim and the crowd was up in arms over the call, some cheering and some not. The remainder of the quarter saw both sides continue to play tough D and miss easy shots as the Stags took the lead to end the quarter, 11-9.

In the 2nd quarter, the Stags came charging out the gate and go on a 5-0 run that saw standout junior BeeJay Anya have a rim-rattling dunk and a block, as well as a 3-point basket from Marcellous Bell ‘12 . The Mustangs saw they were losing the momentum and took the game’s first timeout. Coming out of the timeout, Jiggets was able to hit a 3 for the Mustangs and cut the lead to 4. However, Bell would hit two more 3-pointers and the Stags would outscore the Mustangs 15- 7 and command a 31-16 lead at halftime.

The 3rd quarter saw a new energy from the Mustangs as they attempted to make a comeback. Seniors Kelsey Jenkins and Erik Thomas were two of the contributors to this effort with two key plays. Jenkins had a big rebound and putback layup while Thomas displayed superb hustle as he was able to save the ball off a missed Stag shot and throw it to Kevin Robbins ‘13, who had a clear path, setting up an easy layup. This basket cut the lead to 9 as the Mustangs trailed 24-33 and outscored the Stags 8-2 up to that point. The momentum seemed to be on McNamara’s side until a monster alley-oop was thrown down by DeMatha’s Grant changed it a bit. Still, BMHS was able to outscore them 15-14 and the score was 31-45 to end the quarter.

In the 4th quarter, the momentum shift completely took effect as the Stags were able to outscore the Mustangs 15-7 to secure the win. Mustangs’ guard Jiggets was the leading scorer with 11 points while the Stags had four players in double figures. This game marked the end of the high school careers of forward Kelsey Jenkins (4 points) and guard Erik Thomas (1 point), whose families were in attendance. The Mustangs end the season with a 13-15 record and are ranked 6th in the WCAC. The Stags have one more game left as they will play a huge game on Sunday against the #1 ranked PVI Panthers.

(NOTE: In a bit of good news for McNamara fans, the Girls’ Basketball team was able to defeat Elizabeth Seton, 52-50, in Seton’s Senior Night game and improved their record to 17-11 to end their season).