Dajuan Summers

McDonogh senior DaJuan Summers can beat teams by driving to the basket or taking jumpers from outside the paint. Yesterday, he did both. Summers was a major force in helping the No. 12 Eagles to a 53-48 upset of No. 3 St. Frances in a Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference game. Summers finished with a game-high 19 points and 11 rebounds as the host Panthers had trouble matching up with the 6-foot-8 forward. "I usually just come out and see how the defense is playing me," said Summers, who was last year's All-Metro Player of the Year and has signed with Georgetown.

BOYS Dajuan Summers McDonogh, basketball A 6-foot-8 forward-center, Summers averaged 19.6 points, 10.5 rebounds and 3.5 blocked shots last week in leading the 10th-ranked Eagles (11-3) to three straight wins. In a 46-44 victory over Our Savior Lutheran (N.Y.), Summers had 14 rebounds, four blocks and 15 points, including two free throws with eight seconds left. Summers followed that effort with 26 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks in a 73-42 rout of Aberdeen. He had 16 points in the first half, including 14 of McDonogh's first 15 as it built a 15-0 lead.

Top-ranked Mount St. Joseph survived a scare from No. 12 Calvert Hall to nip the Cardinals, 39-36, in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference semifinals at Villa Julie College last night. Calvert Hall advances to tomorrow's 3 p.m. final against No. 5 McDonogh, a 38-37 winner over No. 6 Towson Catholic in overtime in the other semifinal. Senior guard Greg Woody (13 points) made a pair of throws with 18 seconds remaining for the Gaels' final margin and the third victory by Mount St. Joseph (27-2)

Top-ranked Mount St. Joseph knows how to finish, and that's why the Gaels are 26-0. Yesterday in front of a huge crowd, the host Gaels broke open a tie game with 2:35 left and went on a 14-0 run to close the game and finish upstart Loyola, 63-49. "They find a way to win," said coach Pat Clatchey, whose Gaels clinched a tie for top seeding in the Baltimore Catholic League. Guard Kevin Swecker scored 16 points to lead Mount St. Joseph. Forward Louis Birdsong had 15 points and guard Chase Adams added 14. Pat O'Connell scored 12 of his game-high 17 points in the first half as the Dons (11-9)

As the top-ranked Mount St. Joseph Gaels go about their business on the basketball court, they always look the same, emotionally and physically. Their emotional mannerisms and their facial expressions do not reveal whether they are up or down in a given game. Physically, they are also constant - they make all the plays, especially at nitty-gritty time. Last night in their latest of 32 consecutive wins, the Gaels' poise and talent overcame an inspired DaJuan Summers-led effort to outlast McDonogh, 53-49, in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference semifinals played at St. Paul's.

Georgetown forward DaJuan Summers, who grew up in Baltimore and played for McDonogh as well as the Cecil-Kirk Amateur Athletic Union team, will get a chance to fulfill his NBA dream after he was drafted 35th overall by the Detroit Pistons on Thursday night in the second round of the NBA draft. "I'm very excited," said Summers, who celebrated draft night with his family and friends with a party in the Inner Harbor at the ESPN Zone. "That's where I wanted to go. Didn't think I'd go in the second round, thought it was the first.

Archbishop Spalding made seven of eight free throws in the final minute to defeat Landmark Christian of Fairburn, Ga., 62-55, in the first round of the 23rd Beach Ball Classic in Myrtle Beach, S.C., last night. Spalding (7-0) will play Edgewater of Orlando, Fla., ranked No. 25 by USA Today, at 10:15 tonight in the tournament's quarterfinals. Edgewater was an 80-56 winner over Calhoun County (S.C.) last night. Spalding guard Jesse Brooks, who had 10 of his 12 points in the second half, sank three of four from the line down the stretch.

Malcolm Delaney hit his third three-pointer in the fourth quarter to give No. 3-ranked Towson Catholic a 10-point lead that appeared to put away visiting McDonogh last night. But the No. 12 Eagles refused to surrender and got within three points with 10 seconds remaining before losing, 45-41, in a Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference game. The game matched two unbeaten teams that are young and talented. Delaney had a game-high 18 points, 10 in the last eight minutes, against the Eagles (6-1)

There are lessons to be learned in every game, win or lose, but coaches prefer their players to learn through victory. Top-ranked Mount St. Joseph learned a few things last night in escaping No. 10 McDonogh with a 55-49 victory in a Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference game. If the Gaels (12-1) didn't already know it, they learned last night for sure that as the metro area's No. 1 team, they have a target on their backs. And it's a double-sized target when they are on the road.

Even a case of tired legs wasn't going to stop No. 9 Louisville. Freshman Samardo Samuels scored 15 points and Earl Clark added six points, six rebounds and five assists to lead the host Cardinals to a 78-56 victory over Lamar last night in the final game of the Marques Maybin Classic in Louisville, Ky. Louisville (5-1) won its third game in three days, though Lamar (6-3) made the Cardinals work for it. Louisville had won its previous two games in the round-robin tournament by a combined 75 points.