Mount St. Joseph High School, Irvington, will be the top seed in both the MIAA A Conference and the Baltimore Catholic League basketball tournaments.
The Gaels, ranked in the top 10 in national polls, wrapped up an impressive regular season with an overall record of 27-2, 17-1 as of Feb. 17.
The Gaels’ two non-conference losses were against two high-quality teams, St. Frances Academy, Baltimore, and Oak Hill Academy from Virginia. The Gaels’ 73-70 loss to Oak Hill, the No. 1 team in the nation, shows the depth and talent of the Mount St. Joe team.
The MIAA tournament began on Feb. 19 and will conclude Feb. 24 at Towson University.
Six teams qualified for A Conference post-season play: St. Frances Academy; Towson Catholic High School; Loyola Blakefield, Towson; The John Carroll School, Bel Air; and The Cardinal Gibbons School, Baltimore. The top two teams, Mount St. Joseph and St. Frances, will receive first-round byes.
While Mount St. Joseph wants to win both tournaments, senior center Henry Sims said, “We aren’t looking all the way to the MIAA championship game.
“We have to make sure we win first in the semifinals,” added Georgetown-bound Sims.
St. Frances will be the No. 2 seed. The Panthers are led by senior Sean Mosley, who is heading to the University of Maryland, College Park next year. He led his extremely young but talented team to an overall record of 24-8, 15-3 as of Feb. 17.
The defending champions, Towson Catholic, finished the season 18-11 and 13-5 in the MIAA.
Although Donte Greene, the centerpiece to the Owls’ championship run last year, is now a freshman at Syracuse University in New York, the Owls have the talent and the senior leadership to win another championship behind Brandon Greene, Donte’s cousin.