The Mount Saint Joseph basketball team had its way with Loyola Blakefield in two regular-season meetings, winning each time by 21 points.

The third meeting was a little closer.

Nine Gaels scored as top-seeded Mount Saint Joseph posted a 59-44 victory over the eighth-seeded Dons in a Baltimore Catholic League tournament quarterfinal Saturday at SECU Arena in Towson.

Senior guard Miles Wilson led the winners with 13 points, and 6-foot-8 sophomore power forward Jalen Smith totaled 12 points and 11 rebounds.

Senior guard Randy Miller added 10 points for the Gaels.

“We just feel we are a deeper, more athletic team,” Mount Saint Joseph coach Pat Clatchey said. “Loyola wants you to just kind of play a half-court game. They want to take their time and run some zone. We felt like we needed to get the ball out more in transition, and when we finally broke the game open, that's what we did.”

The Gaels (30-4) took a 10-0 lead in the first 6:30 as the Dons missed their first 10 shots. Loyola (10-17) cut the lead to 16-9 with 6:29 remaining in the second quarter when Andrew Fava and Cameron Shaw hit back-to-back 3-pointers.

But the Gaels pushed their lead to 21-9 about three minutes later, and they led 26-14 at halftime.

“We really struggled in the first half and shot 16 percent from the field,” said Dons coach Josh Davalli, whose team shot 29?percent (14-for-47) from the field overall. “The margin for error against them is so small. Whether it's a breakdown defensively or missing shots offensively, you just can't go long stretches against them not scoring, or letting them scoring easily.”

Loyola trimmed the margin to 31-22 with 4:02 left in the third quarter but got no closer the rest of the way.

Smith sparked Mount Saint Joseph in the second half with two dunks and two layups.

Smith suffered a foot injury in a 76-67 loss to St. Frances in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference championship game Feb. 14 and missed a 64-62 win over St. Maria Goretti three days later.

Obviously, the injury isn't a concern anymore.

“Once we starting getting the ball inside to Jalen Smith and he was scoring around the basket, that's when we broke the game open,” Clatchey said. “Our point guard, Justice Kendall, did a good job of finding him.”

Junior Patrick Norris had 12 points for the Dons and junior guard Kenny Lewis chipped in 10. Loyola senior guard Cole Williams finished with four points, nine rebounds and three steals.

Mount Saint Joseph advances to play in the semifinals tonight at 7 against third-seeded Calvert Hall, an 84-73 winner over sixth-seeded St. Maria Goretti.

No. 1 St. Frances 72, Archbishop Spalding 62: Kurk Lee Jr. scored a game-high 30 points to power the Panthers (30-8) past the Cavaliers (8-20).

Justin Kane led Spalding with 20 points.

No. 6 John Carroll 60, Mount Carmel 46: Nemanja Knezevic scored 17 points to lead the Patriots (23-10) past the Cougars (12-20).

Mount Carmel took a 13-8 lead after the first quarter on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer. John Carroll took control after that and never trailed again.

Calvert Hall 84, St. Maria Goretti 73: Brendan Adams scored a game-high 29 points to power the Cardinals (17-13) past the Gaels (15-13).

Calvert Hall went on a 32-12 run in the third quarter to extend its lead.