#3 St. Mary's Holds Off #6 Highland to Advance to Open Semifinals
- Mason Byers
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
All week, the talk on twitter was about teams possibly tanking in the Open Round of 16 to drop into their conference brackets and avoid #1 Sunnyslope, #2 Millennium, and #3 St. Mary's, who have all been dominant all season long.
However on Friday night, the St. Mary’s defeated the #6 Highland Hawks 49-41 in the Open Division quarterfinals in a game where they never had much breathing room.
Highland would get off to an early lead in the first quarter.
Getting the first two buckets of the game was Highland senior forward Kyle Bogart, who got the Hawks an early 4-0 lead.
Around halfway through the first quarter, though, St. Mary’s was finally able to get on the scoreboard.
It was none other than St. Mary’s senior center and Duke signee Cam Williams who brought down a monster dunk for their first basket of the game.
The Knights would take a slight lead at the end of the first quarter as they would go on a 7-0 run.
Contributing to the run was junior guard Noah Ondoua, who had back-to-back layups.
Rounding out the first quarter, St. Mary’s junior guard Mick Riordan hit a deep three-pointer to give his team a one-point lead over Highland.
In the second quarter, both teams would keep it close.
Highland was able to hit a few three-pointers in the second quarter.
Highland senior guard Grady Crandall would hit two three-pointers to keep the Hawks in it.
The Knights would keep answering back, though, as Williams was starting to find his stride in the game.
Williams would go on a 7-0 run by himself that also featured him getting multiple blocks on the defensive side.
While he was great on offense versus Highland, Williams was even better on defense, being the anchor down low for the Knights and blocking everything.
“I take a lot of pride on that side (defense),” Williams said. “I knew I needed to do that to win the game.”
Even though Williams was taking over on both sides of the ball, Highland was able to get a few baskets to take the lead heading into halftime.
Junior guard Ty Crandall hit a huge three-pointer right before halftime.
Then, the next possession, senior guard Talon Knollmiller was able to make an acrobatic layup.
Highland led 24-22 at halftime.
In the third quarter, St. Mary’s started to take over.
The Hawks were forced to burn an early timeout as Ondoua was able to get two quick baskets for the Knights to get the second half rolling.
The run would continue for St. Mary’s, as at one point they were on a 16-2 run in the third quarter.
Helping add to the scoring outburst was St. Mary’s sophomore guard Carter Bagley, who was able to get two layups to go in.
Eventually, Highland was able to cut the lead as Bogart would get a and-one basket to go in right before the end of the quarter.
St. Mary’s held a 38-31 lead heading into the final eight minutes of the game.
The Hawks would get out to a 5-0 run to open up the fourth quarter.
Highland junior guard Nick Reber was able to knock down a three-pointer to open up the quarter.
Down the final stretch of the game, both teams struggled to get their offenses going.
That was until Williams took the game into his hands.
After once again swatting another shot attempt away, Williams got a physical bucket down the court to keep St. Mary’s lead alive.
Time proved not be on Highlands' side as they were forced to foul and send St. Mary’s to the free throw line.
The Knights were able to knock down their free throws and seal their victory over Highland.
Even though St. Mary’s won the 4A title last year, the chemistry and overall team seem better this season.
It has propelled them to the final four in the Open Division bracket, and they think they have what it takes to win the whole thing.
“I feel like this year our team chemistry is way better, it’s just fun playing with these guys,” Williams said. “I think we have what it takes to win the whole thing.”
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