St. Frances boys basketball has a special way of handling things when the going gets tough.

The No. 2 Panthers embrace the challenge knowing — win or lose — that they gave everything they could.

In Thursday’s Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference semifinal at No. 3 Glenelg Country, a game filled with clutch plays and baskets that required overtime, St. Frances had the final say.

Led by junior guard Jasiah Cannady — who scored six of his team-high 24 points at the start of overtime — and a 20-for-22 performance from the free-throw line, the Panthers claimed a thrilling 78-72 win over the Dragons.

St. Frances (28-6) will take on No. 1 Mount Carmel — a 64-62 winner over No. 4 Archbishop Spalding in Thursday’s other semifinal — for the league championship at 6 p.m. Saturday at UMBC. Glenelg Country, which got a sensational 33-point performance from senior star Pat Curtin, fell to 20-7.

After Curtin hit a 3-pointer with seven seconds left in the fourth quarter to force overtime and then opened the extra time with another 3, the Dragons appeared poised to advance.

But Cannady and the Panthers had other plans with an 11-0 run that also featured five points from Kamauri Lawson.

“Just staying together,” said Cannady, who hit a floater in the lane, a reverse layup and the first 2 of 9 makes at the free-throw line for the Panthers in overtime. “Even when stuff goes down, we know we can fight through adversity and I’m just proud of this team. We’re not done yet. We need to go win this [championship] and go on to the next one [Baltimore Catholic League Tournament].”

Neither team budged in the early going until the Panthers went on an 8-0 run early in the second quarter, capped by Terence Jones’ 3-pointer for a 31-23 advantage with 6:17 left until the break.

But the Dragons dominated the rest of the quarter and got a three-point play and short turnaround jumper from Jalen Baker in the final minute to take a 39-36 halftime lead.

After an evenly played third quarter, the Dragons had a 60-57 lead midway through the fourth. That’s when the defensive intensity cranked up.

The Panthers got a dunk from Cam Fleming with 1:57 to play to pull within one and then two free throws from Cannady gave them a 61-60 lead with 1:20 to play. After two free throws from Jones pushed the lead to three with 19 seconds to play, the Dragons, who hadn’t made a field goal in more than three minutes, turned to Curtin.

On the right side, he took a step back beyond the 3-point line and sank the tying basket to force overtime.

He opened with another long make 18 seconds into the four-minute overtime period and the Dragons wouldn’t score again until he nailed two more in the final 28 seconds. By then, the Panthers had built a comfortable double-digit advantage.

“Just guys being in big moments. Kamauri and Jasiah have been in big moments before and they really led us down the stretch. Just big plays,” St. Frances coach Nick Myles said. “It was a great win, but in this league it’s championships or nothing. We split with Mount Carmel and this will be the rubber match and I’ll tell everybody in Baltimore that they need to be at UMBC at 6 o’clock on Saturday night.”

The Dragons’ season isn’t finished either. They’ll next play in the Maryland Private School State Basketball Tournament, earning a first-round bye with their first game set for Saturday, March 1.

Glenelg Country coach Garrett O’Donnell credited the Panthers, in particular their deep backcourt. In addition to Cannady’s big scoring night, Jones finished with 19 points and Lawson had 14.

As has been the case all season, O’Donnell had more praise for Curtin’s fine effort.

“Right now, Pat’s averaging 28 points a game and everybody is going into our games knowing they got to stop him and nobody has been able to do it,” he said. “What Pat has been able to do is put this team on his back night in and night out and just carry us. From scoring to leading the team in taking charges and just by his will and determination.”

Baker and Donavan Marshburn added 13 for the Dragons, while Trent Egbiremolen was the fourth Panther in double figures with 12.

Mount Carmel holds off Spalding, 64-62: It’s been a year of firsts for Mt. Carmel, and the Cougars get the chance to add to an already historic campaign after Thursday’s 64-62 win over Spalding in the MIAA A Conference semifinals.

They advance to Saturday’s title game where they’ll play for their first A Conference title at 6 p.m. against St. Frances at UMBC. The Cougars last claimed a crown in 2008 in the B Conference.

On Thursday, the squads put on a thriller in front of a packed gym that provided a raucous home court advantage for the Cougars. After defense shined in the first half, the second half became an offensive showcase.

Senior Mario Tatum led the way with 15 points — all in the second half — for Mt. Carmel, and junior Tristen Wilson added 14, with both making clutch 3-pointers in the fourth quarter. Eight players scored at least four points for the top-seeded Cougars.

“We’re well-balanced,” Mt. Carmel coach Tony Martin said. “We have six guys that start in a rotational order, right around six guys averaging double figures, and guys that come off the bench and know their roles.”

Spalding’s TJ Moultrie led all scorers with 16. Braxton Bogard poured in 14, including 10 in the fourth quarter.

It felt as if a drama-filled game ran out of magic when Mt. Carmel went up 64-54 with 29 seconds to play. However, fouls became an issue. After Spalding made one free throw and Mt. Carmel missed its effort, the Cavaliers’ Robert Lonergan (13 points) bulled his way into contact as he launched a 3-pointer. Martin made his frustrations known from the bench, having several conversations with the officials, and was ultimately issued a technical. That gave Lonergan two more free throws, which he cashed in, and Spalding the ball back. Bogard made a bucket and suddenly a 10-point lead turned into a two-point lead without Carmel ever touching the ball.

But in true Carmel fashion, the whole roster got it done with sophomore Samartine Hill making the final key play. Mt. Carmel missed two free throws with two seconds on the clock, but Hill beat the box-out efforts of his much taller matchup and snared the rebound to clinch the result in chaotic fashion for the Cougars and sending them to the conference final.

“This organization has been through some ups and downs winning and losing,” Tatum said. “We get to finish it this time. That’s all that matters.”

The fourth quarter went back-and-forth with each team tallying 22 points, nearly matching their entire first-half output. Tatum and Junior Mancho notched early buckets to extend the Cougars’ lead. However, Bogard came alive in the fourth quarter for Spalding, with the visitor’s dynamic big man beginning to finally find some space around the basket.

“[Bogard] is a beast. We wanted to make sure we crowded him, doubled him,” Martin said. “Limit his touches in the paint and his offensive rebounds.”

Carmel managed that task well for three quarters, holding Bogard to four points. However, Bogard scored Spalding’s first seven points of the final frame, managing to mitigate the effects of a hot shooting start from the top seed in the final quarter. Carmel picked up contributions from everyone in the quarter. Wilson hit a corner 3-pointer to put the Cougars up 49-42. After Bogard closed Spalding back within four, junior reserve Gage Howard went underneath the basket and scooped in a left-handed reverse layup, and Wilson banged home another corner triple to push the lead to nine, 56-47.

After Spalding got it back to a two-possession game, Mt. Carmel escaped a heavy trap attempt on its end and Wilson ultimately missed a pair of shots, but collected his own rebound both times. With four seconds on the shot clock after a wild possession, Martin called timeout. Coming back in, the ball ended up with Tatum, who rose up and hit a contested 3-pointer to push the advantage back to nine points as the shot clock expired.

“No that wasn’t the play call,” Tatum laughed. “But it happened just like when you’re little, you have those scenarios, game on the line. My teammates and coaching staff believe in me. I knew eventually I was going to get it going, but they kept me in it, both offensively and defensively.”

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