Gavin Walsh, Cam Smith lift Loyola Blakefield basketball to 68-57 victory over Calvert Hall

The Loyola Blakefield basketball team has been beaten, battered and bruised throughout the entire season. This time around, the Dons gave the rival Cardinals a bruising in a decisive 68-57 victory on Wednesday.

With the Baltimore Catholic League playoffs looming, Gavin Walsh and Cam Smith returned to the court at the perfect time for Loyola. After Smith received stitches against Gilman on March 10 and Walsh dealt with a leg injury throughout the season, the frontcourt duo combined for 41 points Wednesday. Walsh finished with a team-high 24 points and added eight rebounds, while Smith had 17 points, 10 rebounds, one steal and one assist.

Their physicality is the main component of their success, according to Walsh.

“[To impose our will] has been our game plan most of the year,” Walsh said. “We’ve got a good matchup when it comes to us because we’re pretty versatile, taller and we know how to play inside. I know that Cam did a good job and I did a good job of getting the ball inside. Our teammates fed us the ball and that’s what we needed to do is look inside first. We could shoot all of these threes whenever, but in our offense, we set a lot of screens to get the ball inside.”

Smith is one of just three seniors on Loyola Blakefield’s squad, including guards Uche Unegbu and John Dixon. While Dixon missed the game with an injury of his own, Unegbu battled alongside Smith to add three rebounds and a steal on Senior Night.

The game had an added importance for Smith, as it would be his final regular-season game against Loyola Blakefield’s crosstown rival.

“It was really fun,” Smith said. “It’s my first game back in about three games and I was just happy to be out there on the floor, but it made it even better beating Calvert Hall. Coming out with the win was just great. Even though we didn’t have John [Dixon] today, we still click very well when we have all of our pieces and you can see it in practice. I just feel like when we all get healthy, we’ll show everyone what Loyola is made of.”

Loyola Blakefield coach Josh Davalli has seen his team put together six consecutive wins. Heading into Monday’s BCL quarterfinal against fourth-seeded Mount Carmel with momentum is a critical component to be successful in the tournament.

“I was telling the guys that we had a loss in the middle of our season where we were questioning where we were going to go,” Davalli said. “We’ve righted our ship and we’re headed in the right direction. Anytime that you get six wins in a row in our league, that’s a great feat. I’m proud of the guys in accomplishing that and getting our team in the right direction.”

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Walsh led the Dons with eight points in the first quarter as he made four free throws and slashed to the bucket for two layups, giving Loyola Blakefield a 17-9 lead. He added three more points in the second quarter, but Calvert Hall battled back. Cardinals guard Mike Williams finished the half with eight points, Antonio Foxwell had eight points of his own and point guard Samartine Bogues-Christian had three points to cut the deficit to 28-25 at the half.

Williams continued to show fight in the third quarter with six points, as Bogues-Christian dished several flashy passes. Isaiah Williams had four points and Karim Harris added five of his own for the Cardinals in the third, but they trailed 42-39 at the end of the quarter.

Smith scored 11 points in the fourth quarter, closing out the game with Walsh, who added six points of his own.

Calvert Hall coach Jason Hasson yearned for better play from his team. The young Cardinals made several mistakes, with errant passes and turnovers coming after dribbling through a crowded paint. Mike Williams shined through, however, ending the game with 19 points, seven rebounds, four steals, two assists and a block.

Hasson looks at Williams as the catalyst for his team.

“He was playing with a lot of energy — he was all over the place,” Hasson said. “We’ve got to match his energy all of the time. It’s a very difficult place to play in general and even more so in this environment. We get a lot of energy off of open shots and it’s hard to make open shots in this place.”