BASKETBALL: Crusaders Deal Cardinals First Defeat

Just a night after notching its first win of the season, Calvert Hall endured its first loss, falling 58-46 at St. Paul's on Wednesday.

The Crusaders returned three starters and several key contributors from last season's team that won the MIAA B Conference Championship.

The Cardinals, meanwhile, are in the midst of trying to replace their top six scorers from last year.

Their inexperience was evident at times against St. Paul's.

"We have to be consistently  focused and give effort all the time," Calvert Hall coach John Bauersfeld said after the game. "With an inexperienced team, there are going to be a lot of ups and downs. Every game is going to be an adventure. We didn't come out ready to play in the third quarter and kind of took that quarter off."

That proved to be costly for the Cardinals.

After trailing just 26-22 at halftime, they scored only two points in the third quarter, shooting just 1-for-6 from the field while committing 11 turnovers as the Crusaders extended their lead to 38-24.

Calvert Hall finished with 25 turnovers, including 19 in the second half.

"We had way too many turnovers and they were able to get a lot of points in transition off of them," Bauerfeld said.

St. Paul's built its lead to as much as 19 early in the fourth quarter before the Cardinals made a late surge.

After turning the ball over on each of its first four possessions to the start the fourth quarter, Calvert Hall went on a 10-0 run to trim its deficit to 43-34 with four minutes left in the game.

The Cardinals would get as close as eight with just more than a minute remaining, but the Crusaders put the game away at the free-throw line down the stretch. St. Paul's attempted 25 free throws during the fourth quarter, connecting on 14, including nine during the final two minutes.

Guard Lamonte Wade (14 points) and 6-foot-8 Cliff Cornish combined for 27 points for the Crusaders while junior guard/forward Justin Beck had a team-high 17 for Calvert Hall. Beck scored 10 of the Cardinals' 22 fourth-quarter points.

But while the Cardinals shot 7-for-12 (58-percent) during the fourth quarter, they were just 9-for-27 (33-percent) through the first three.

"We need to sustain effort the whole game, from beginning to end," Beck said. "We lost the game in the third quarter. But it was a great test for us and we've just got to make adjustments for next time."

St. Paul's will play Friends School at home on Friday at 5  p.m.