CHARLESTON, W.Va. – For the second night in a row, St. Joseph Central erased a fourth quarter deficit to knock off a higher seed, this time it was defending state champion and No. 1 Magnolia, 70-62.
“We most definitely came in as the underdogs,” said St. Joe standout Keith Clemons. “Most people didn’t even think we would get here, being the No. 5 seed playing the No. 1 seed. But we all talked about it. Being the underdog is alright, as long as we get the job done.”
The Irish (21-6) erased an eight point fourth quarter deficit the night before in a quarterfinal matchup against Notre Dame. Friday’s win over the Blue Eagles (22-3) put St. Joe into Saturday’s Class A state title game.
St. Joe ended both games with 9-0 runs over the final two minutes.
“It’s two in a row (of late comebacks), but I wouldn’t want to make a living doing that,” said St. Joe coach Ross Scaggs. “But they’re confident in themselves and we say all the time that if you can’t play the game when you’re down 5-7 points, then you’re not going to go very far. You have to be able to keep your head, keep focused and believe in one another.”
Clemons led the Irish with 24 points on the night, but it was John Morrison who sparked St. Joe off of the bench with 17 points on 7 of 9 shooting.
“I’m just proud of my team,” Morrison said. “When we get down, we don’t give up. That’s what I love about our team. I wanted to make it to the championship game.”
Morrison came into tournament play averaging just four points per game.
“Wow,” said Magnolia coach Dave Tallman on Morrison. “That’s what we do, take away the best players and I thought they had three great guards. But every time it looked like we were going to go on a run, (Morrison) came through with a big play.
“It’s a crazy game, the game of basketball,” Tallman continued. “All year, every time we needed a big shot, our guys would come through and I thought we did again tonight. But we couldn’t match (Morrison). What a performance.”
Morrison’s defense was also on display as he collected five steals and helped create several easy buckets in transition for the Irish.
“We just told him to keep it up,” said St. Joe’s Deaundra Murphy. “His defense is what we need, he provided it and I’m proud of him. His production (off the bench) was amazing.”
Murphy finished with 14 points for the Irish in the win, while John Dawson scored 13.
St. Joe jumped out to an 18-11 lead at the end of one, but Magnolia battled back to tie it at 32-32 heading to the half. A 15-14 advantage in the third quarter put the Blue Eagles up 47-46 after three.
A layup-and-one from Preston Boswell extended Magnolia’s lead out to 51-46 with 7:34 to go.
The Irish, though, battled back, tying the game up at 61-61 with 2:32 to go on a steal from Morrison and layup from Murphy. St. Joe took the lead, 63-62, on a pair of free throws from Dawson with 1:57 left. A Morrison layup with 39 seconds to go extended that Irish lead to 67-62.
“When we’re down, we come together as a team and build each other up,” Clemons said. “Even though we’re down, we know we can always come back. We’re just looking to the championship tomorrow, let’s play.”
Boswell scored 41 points in the loss for Magnolia.
St. Joe moves on to face Wheeling Central at 2:30 p.m on Saturday for the Class A state championship.
“They’re an excellent team, obviously,” Scaggs said. “We’re going to have to play even better on (Saturday). I really think we have as good of a chance as they do, I’m not going to count these kids out. We’re not going to get intimidated, we’re just going to continue doing what we do.”
Watch players and coaches react in postgame: