Mount Hangs On For Great Road Win at Xaverian

So much for the idea that teams moving up from the CHSAA's "A" division would struggle. In this the first year of the "post Rice" expanded "AA" league the new teams have held their own and two of them have made lots of noise.

The play of Cardinal Hayes has spoken the loudest as they have quickly established themselves as a league co-favorite with Christ the King. But quietly Tom Fraher's Mount St. Michael's squad has made a splash of their own. And following their tough 61-58 road win at Xaverian the rest of the league will no doubt begin to take notice.

Following a terrific road win at St. Ray's and a tough home loss to Holy Cross they came to Bay Ridge and blitzed Xaverian early with a deadly accurate barrage of three point shooting.  They lead 39-27 at the half as Ed Correa poured in 19 of his game high 24 points before the intermission.  They moved the ball, got good looks and made the most of every scramble situation created by an offensive rebound. In those situations the ball was not put right back up at the rim but kicked out  where Mount's other two guards, Anthony Maistre and Malik Gill made great decisions either driving to the basket or reversing the ball quickly and often finding Correa in the right corner for three's and he made Xaverian pay for slow rotations.

Xaverian rallied behind  the scoring of Brian Bernardi. who finished with 21 points and Dylan who finished with 16. Their efforts were augmented by Lamel Faishon who provided solid point guard play again off the bench, and Stanley Peacock who gave them energy and an inside presence that was especially needed because an ankle injury limited Shakeel Kemp's minutes.

The Clippers took the lead twice in the fourth quarter but Mount had great answers including two from Maistre who smartly recognized that the Clippers were extending their defense to the three point line and hit two tough tear drop shots in the lane. Those plays plus defense and free throws sealed a great win for the Mounties and handed Xaverian its fourth straight league loss as they prepare to host Christ the King on Sunday. Mount takes on longtime "A" league rival Archbishop Stepinac on Friday as the Crusaders are coming off their own upset win against St. Ray's.  In a league where every win is both hard earned and precious, both games should be great.