They almost make it look easy sometimes.
Last week top-ranked DeMatha struggled to put away Paul VI in a game it won by nine points. The Stags had no such problems in the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference tournament semifinals on Monday night.
DeMatha rolled to a 71-46 victory over the Panthers and advanced to Wednesday night’s championship game against the winner of Monday night’s late contest between No. 2 seed St. John’s and No. 3 seed Gonzaga.
Senior 6-foot-8 center Jerai Grant, a Clemson signee, scored a game-high 14 points for DeMatha. His presence in the lane was also too much for an undersized Paul VI squad without a starter above 6-5. Grant recorded six blocks, including three in the first quarter alone. Senior guard Austin Freeman (Georgetown) added 10 points in the winning effort.
“We wanted to jump on top of them as quickly as possible and we did that,” Grant said. “Now we’ve put ourselves in good position for tomorrow night. We want to win another championship.”
The Panthers (16-12) reached the semifinals after a quarterfinal win over McNamara on Saturday. Paul VI struggled during the latter portion of the regular season. Once as high as second-place in the conference in January, the Panthers lost six of their last seven games and slipped to the No. 5 seed.
DeMatha led 18-6 after the first quarter and 31-8 with just 2:13 remaining in the first half.
On a new schedule
TheWashington Catholic Athletic Conference boys basketball championship game will now be played on Wednesday at American University.
The entire tournament was pushed back a day after Sunday’s snowstorm wiped out the semifinals. DeMatha’s boys basketball will play the winner of Monday night’s late game between St. John’s and Gonzaga. That game will take place at 8 p.m. The Winner advances to next month’s City Title game.
