The roller coaster came to an end for the Saint Jo boy’s basketball team as the Panthers went up against one of the top teams in the state in the regional quarterfinals on March 25 in Bridgeport.
The Panthers were eventually overwhelmed by Graford, which kept pouring it on as the final score of 89-51, but the game was a bit more competitive through the first three quarters.
Saint Jo came out focused and ready to take things to the Jackrabbits, who featured large and bouncy six-foot-five-inch player Xavier Harrison in the post they knew they had to stop.
The usual pressing Panthers instead dropped back into a tight two-three zone defense. Graford initially tried to drive to the basket and could not convert on the tough layups.
Offensively from the opening possession, Saint Jo’s Preston Lyons was ready to play. A tough and contested mid-range shot went in. A contested three-pointer went in. A back door play to Blake Anderson opened up a 6-0 lead in the first two and half minutes into the game.
Besides scoring, Lyons helped out in other ways. The overzealous defender guarding him picked up two technicals directed at him and was kicked from the game in the second quarter.
It did not take long for the Jackrabbits to wake up. With Saint Jo crashing for offensive rebounds, Graford was able to score several transition baskets by beating the defense back, with ally-oops off the backboard and dunks from Harrison really getting the Jackrabbits going. In the next two minutes Graford took the lead 9-8 and led 16-13 heading into the second quarter.
In the first quarter it seemed like the Jackrabbits were hesitant to take any of the open three-pointers as they focused on trying to get the ball inside to Harrison. In the second quarter they started to shoot and make some three-pointers as the lead started to get away from Saint Jo. The Jackrabbits lead had grown to 29-18 the first two and half minutes into the quarter.
Offensively, the Panthers tried to drive hard to the basket against the Harrison, who had a penchant for getting into foul trouble all season.
On Monday, Saint Jo had no such luck as shot after shot was turned away as Harrison did his best to go straight up with both arms to not draw fouls.
Only Lyons was able to make a few of his crazy shots go in while the other points came at the free throw trips the Panthers were able to draw, with the fouls largely coming from other defenders. Graford’s point guard did get into foul trouble, but it did not seem to matter as the Jackrabbits lead grew to 41-25 at halftime.
The Panthers started the third quarter strong with five back-to-back baskets to cut the lead to 41-30, in the first minute and half. Unfortunately, that would be as close as they would get for the rest of the game.
Even with Saint Jo changing its defense to man-to-man to try and limit the perimeter shots, it opened up driving lanes for Graford to get the ball to the basket.
Also, transition opportunities were still getting taken advantage of as the Panthers six-man rotation wore down as the lead grew back to 58-40 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Panthers never gave up trying, but with time running down and the lead growing, the shots on offense became reckless. Pull up threes and futile drives to the basket after minimal ball movement led to easy baskets in transition.
There was a brief couple minutes where Saint Jo put on the full-court press and trap defense they played all year that worked when they surprised Graford with it, but once they figured it out the Jackrabbits easily exploited it with easy baskets on the back end.
The lead grew and grew until Coach Michael Wheeler called off his starters and put in his bench for the final two and half minutes.
Graford followed suit, but their bench poured on 11 more points to grow the lead to the final score of 89-51.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.