Mount Carmel boys basketball had a fourth quarter for the ages Saturday night against St. Frances, eight minutes of team play that typified the No. 1 Cougars’ special season.

Leading by three points at the start, they hit big shots early, blocked shots at the other end, and, after the No. 2 Panthers came with a late push, made clutch free throws at the end.

Every player on the floor made their own vital contribution in the determining stretch. And when senior guard Mario Tatum joyously dribbled away the final seconds at UMBC, Mount Carmel had a 55-50 win that gave the program its first Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference championship.

Junior Ralph Rudusans, an exchange student from Latvia who got the Cougars on track with nine of his team-high 17 points in the second quarter, was named the championship game’s top player. Junior Mancho had 11 points, Gage Howard added 10 and Tatum had eight with senior point guard Rodney Scott bringing inspired two-way play.

Mount Carmel, which took over the area’s No. 1 ranking just before the season’s midway point, is 31-4 with next week’s Baltimore Catholic League Tournament left on the slate.

“These are my guys. I practice every day with them. I believe in them with all my heart and I think the most important thing is just to fight together — that’s it,” said Rudusans, who felt confident during warmups and told teammates he’d be hitting shots. “This is the best thing that could happen: Win a championship and play a good game.”

The teams split two tightly contested regular-season games, and Saturday was no different most of the way.

Owning a 42-39 advantage entering the fourth quarter, the Cougars took hold of the game with sensational play. They opened with an 8-0 run to produce the game’s first double-digit advantage at 50-39 with 5:21 to play. Included were two baskets from Tristen Wilson, who also fed Howard for an alley-oop dunk. At the defensive end, Howard had two blocked shots with Rudusans turning away another.

The Panthers made their comeback bid starting with a 3-pointer from Trent Egbiremolen — their first points of the fourth quarter coming with 3:47 left. When Terence Jones hit another 3 and then Jasiah Cannady turned a steal into another quick two points, the Cougars’ lead was at 52-47 with 2:24 to play.

After both teams were unable to produce points on their next two possessions, Jones hit another corner 3 to cut the deficit to 52-50 with 1:03 left.

Throughout the game, the Cougars were only average at the free-throw line, making just one of two on four trips, when Tatum stepped up with 35 seconds left. He made both — confident that’s how his visit to the line would go — to make it 54-50.

“I knew I was going to make them. I work on them every day,” Tatum said. “Being a kid, you always want to be in that moment — free throws, game on the line — make the free throws. That’s what I did.”

After St. Frances guard Kamauri Lawson missed a 3 with 23 seconds left, Scott pulled down the big rebound. Wilson capped the scoring with one more make from the free-throw line.

For Cougars coach Tony Martin, who won two MIAA A Conference titles during his stint at John Carroll, the team’s execution at the start of the fourth quarter and poise at the end came as no surprise. All season, they’ve managed to protect leads.

He was happy for the entire Mount Carmel community. In particular, the school’s former president, Larry Callahan, who hired Martin before retiring.

“So many people have mentioned it to me, how important it is for him to see us win an A Conference championship or a BCL championship,” Martin said. “He had tears in his eyes and couldn’t even come into the locker room. So it means a lot to the school and community.”

The win also was extra special and emotional for Scott, a four-year varsity player and the team’s unquestioned leader and steadiest player. He took care of the basketball, played his typical hassling defense and distributed effectively. When called upon, he hit a huge shot midway through the fourth quarter when the shot clock was winding down, driving the lane to make it 48-39 with just under six minutes left.

“I’ve just been through a lot the past year — my father passed away last year and I just had to do it for him,” he said.

After a clutch 78-72 overtime win against Glenelg Country in Thursday’s semifinals, St. Frances couldn’t find the same confident vibe Saturday. In addition to the Cougars’ three blocked shots while they pulled away at the start of the fourth, the Panthers made careless turnovers before making their run past the midway point. Cannady scored a game-high 18 points, while Egbiremolen finished with 14.

“We were low on energy and I don’t know why,” coach Nick Myles said. “I got to blame myself — we just didn’t play hard enough.”

Both teams will turn their attention to the 54th BCL Tournament, starting with two-day quarterfinal round play at Loyola Maryland’s Reitz Arena.

On Thursday, top-seeded Mount Carmel opens against St. Mary’s at 6 p.m., followed by fourth-seeded John Carroll taking on fifth-seeded Loyola Blakefield at 8.

On Friday, second-seeded St. Frances meets seventh-seeded Calvert Hall at 6 p.m. with third-seeded Spalding and sixth-seeded Mount Saint Joseph closing the opening round at 8 p.m.

Have a news tip? Contact Glenn Graham at ggraham@baltsun.com, 410-332-6636 and x.com/GlennGrahamSun.

St. Frances — 13-12-14-11 — 50

Mount Carmel — 11-16-15-13 — 55

SF — Cannady 18, Jones III 9, Egbiremolen 14, Fleming 4, Lawson 5

MC — Howard 10, Wilson 6, Scott 2, Mancho 11, Rudusans 17, Tatum 8, Hill 1

Severn defends B Conference crown

Jacob Randall thought his basketball season might be over in the middle of it when he partially tore his hamstring. Luckily for Severn, he heals fast.

The Admirals got 16 points from Randall and defeated St. Paul’s, 51-42, to win their second straight MIAA B Conference championship at UMBC on Saturday afternoon.

Though Randall was spectacular down the stretch, the Admirals relied on a championship defense in the second half. The 42 points in the loss was St. Paul’s lowest output of the season.

“This means so much to me,” Randall said. “I was out for about a month and a half, and I just came back last week. I worked my butt off to get back on this court, and it resulted in another championship for us. I am so glad I got to contribute to that.”

The Admirals (20-5, 14-1), who lost their only B Conference game, 53-52, to St. Paul’s during the regular season, relied on their calling card defense to win the title.

“I pride myself on my defense, but collectively our job was to stop [Cahron Wheeler],” Randall said. “It was a team effort really to get a bunch of stops, then we started to run the floor, and that led to the win.”

Wheeler scored 11 points, but he finished behind teammate Andrew Cooper, who had 13.

The Admirals came out firing on all cylinders, using layups by Daniel Growney and DJ Lee and a 3-pointer by Grayson Skeeter to jump out to a 7-0 lead.

After that, St. Paul’s (20-10, 14-3) went on a run of their own. The Crusaders, using a 2-3 zone, tightened up their own defense and held Severn scoreless for 7:33 to take a 12-7 lead.

A 3-pointer by Sean Harvey midway through the second quarter finally broke the drought, and the Admirals got another 3-pointer 47 seconds later to retake the lead, 13-12. The teams exchanged baskets for the remainder of the half with Severn taking a 17-16 lead into the break.

The Admirals looked like a different team in the second half. They tightened their defense and grabbed several key defensive rebounds to widen the lead. The Admirals went on an 8-2 run early in the quarter to take a 27-20 lead.

Even when the Crusaders were scoring, they were their own worst enemies. St. Paul’s missed 4 of 5 free throws in the third quarter and 13 of 20 for the game.

After a Cooper basket cut the lead to 29-22 in the third quarter, the Admirals went on 6-1 run to close out the frame with a 35-23 lead.

Severn continued to rely on its defense in the fourth quarter. The Crusaders were able to cut the margin to eight at 48-40, but they could get no closer in the final period.

“I really feel like our calling card is kind of trying to make team uncomfortable, especially in the half court,” Severn coach Mike Glasby said. “When we were able to get out and run in the second half I thought we were really able to take advantage of it.”

For Crusaders coach Phil Hahn, the loss was another example of so close, yet so far.

“We did what we wanted to do, but we just didn’t finish,” Hahn said. “We knew what they were going to be doing, and it’s just —really hard to score against them. Jacob Randall had a great game.”

— Mike Frainie, for The Baltimore Sun

Severn — 7-10-18-16 — 51

St. Paul’s — 8-8-7-19 — 42

Sev — Harvey 7, Growney 10, Randall 16, Skeeter 3, Lee 11, Hilborn 4

SP — Wheeler 11, Hatter 4, Matthews 7, Cooper 13, Lichter 7