BCL championship:

Mosley's 35 show way as Panthers take title

Senior, Wells finish on high note with 2nd crown in 4 years

By Pat O'Malley

Sun reporter

March 6, 2008

St. Frances has a lot to celebrate.

Coach William Wells brought Sean Mosley into St. Frances in style four years ago and tonight they said goodbye to the Baltimore Catholic League together in style in front of more than 2,000 fans.

Mosley led No. 8 St. Frances with a season-high 35 points to win the 37th BCL tournament championship, 66-61, over No. 2 Mount St. Joseph at Loyola College, just as he had done in 2005 as a freshman in a 57-48 victory over Towson Catholic.

Wells groomed Mosley and showed supreme confidence in his freshman phenom four years ago by urging him to be a leader.

"The kids really wanted it and Sean played really well," Wells said as tears rolled down his face as he spoke immediately after the game.

Mosley took Most Valuable Players honors tonight just as he had done as a freshman, but the numbers showed his maturity under Wells, who won his sixth BCL title in 20 years to tie the late Ray Mullis of Cardinal Gibbons for the most in tournament history.

Wells is retiring as head coach and turning the reins over to his top assistant, Mark Karcher, who led the Panthers to three BCL consecutive titles (1995-97).

In 2005, Mosley led St. Frances with 18 points in the final and had 46 total points in three games. This year, he scored 79 points in three games.

The 35-point effort brought his career total to 2,844 to tie former Cardinal Gibbons star Quintin Dailey (1976-79) for second place on the state's all-time scoring list.

"This was a special year for us," said Mosley, who hit 15 of 18 free-throw attempts last night as the Panthers improved to 27-8. "We had to get this for Coach Wells. He gets emotional on us sometimes but this was wonderful. I'm honored God gave me the talent I have."

St. Joe (30-4) was looking for its first BCL title since 2006, which was its third, all since 2003 under coach Pat Clatchey.

"They deserved to win and we didn't get the job done," said Clatchey, who didn't make any excuses for his 6-11 center Henry Sims, who played with a pulled groin through the tournament and had eight points, seven rebounds and two blocks tonight.

"Mosley really stepped up and made a lot of free throws."

Eric Atkins led the Gaels with 17 points, while Quentin Jones and Justin McCoy had 15 and 14 points, respectively.

The Gaels led 26-23 at the half, but by the end of the third period, St. Frances held a 44-37 lead and finished strong.

Both teams will continue playing next week in the 48th Alhambra Catholic Invitational Tournament in Frostburg.