Joseph

After seeing the game dramatically change when visiting Mount St. Joseph dominated the third quarter, the St. Frances boys basketball team dug in and did what it does best in the final frame. The No. 1 Panthers hit clutch shots, got key defensive stops and, most importantly, leaned on their senior leadership when it was needed most to come away with a thrilling 58-57 win over the No. 2 Gaels. Senior guard Tevon Saddler scored a team-high 19 points and fellow senior guard Maurice White scored nine of his 16 points in the fourth quarter - including five in the final minute - to help the Panthers improve to 14-1 overall, 6-0 in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference and 5-0 in the Baltimore Catholic League.

Francis Joseph McNerney III, a graduate of Mount St. Joseph High School where he was known as the Fighting Gael mascot, died Dec. 21 at the University of Maryland Medical Center from complications related to a lung transplant. The Canton resident was 23. Affectionately known as "Frankie," Mr. McNerney, a twin, was born in Baltimore and raised in Northeast Baltimore and Catonsville, where he attended area Catholic schools. He graduated from Mount St. Joseph in 2008. Mr. McNerney was born with cystic fibrosis, which took a toll on his body over the years, including the loss of a lung as a teenager, though his sister Kelsey McNerney said it never broke his spirit.

The junior guard, an All-Metro second-team selection last year, averaged 24 points to lead No. 2 Mount St. Joseph to two Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference wins last week. In the Gaels' 74-63 win over McDonogh on Wednesday, Booth finished with 18 points. On Friday, he scored 30 in a 78-61 win over Calvert Hall. Booth, in his third season as a starter, is averaging 19 points, seven rebounds and four assists as Mount St. Joseph entered this week with an 11-2 mark.

Joseph R. Castoro, a retired Baltimore businessman and a World War II veteran, died Dec. 5 of multiple organ failure at Brightview Assisted Living in Bel Air. He was 87. The son of a builder and a homemaker, Joseph Robert Castoro was born in Camden, N.J., and moved with his family to a home near Patterson Park. After graduating from Calvert Hall College High School in 1943, he immediately enlisted in the Army Air Forces. A musician who played drums and guitar and wrote music, Mr. Castoro dreamed of becoming a bandleader.

As the Dec. 3 editorial "The Salvation of St. Joseph" noted, citizens must be vigilant about health care restrictions at Catholic-run hospitals. Catholic hospitals enforce religious directives that can interfere with patient decision-making in unpredictable and sometimes devastating ways. Maryland residents working to establish the state's Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) program, for example, need to learn the local bishop's view of POLST because his view will apply at St. Joseph.

I agree with your editorial ("The Salvation of St. Joseph," Dec. 3) on the likely benefits of the University of Maryland Medical System's purchase of St. Joseph Hospital. Nonetheless, St. Joseph "directives" effectively requiring that "[t]hose potential patients who might seek care not permitted by the Catholic faith including abortion, fertility treatment, or artificial contraception will have to look elsewhere," violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Varsity boys basketball Mount St. Joseph downs Sidwell, 59-55, to win Gonzaga Classic In a defensive struggle, No. 1 Mount St. Joseph defeated Sidwell Friends, 59-55, on Sunday in the championship game of the Gonzaga D.C. Classic at Smith Center. The first half saw a remarkable swing of momentum, with the Gaels outscoring Sidwell 22-7 in the first quarter before Sidwell (8-1) outdid Mount St. Joseph 22-3 in the second quarter. The high scorer was Josh Hart of Sidwell with 37 points, breaking the tournament record with a total of 100 points.

Top-ranked Mount St. Joseph basketball faced a determined Bullis School in the semifinals of the Gonzaga D.C. Classic on Saturday night. The Gaels and the Bulldogs traded leads throughout the first three quarters until St. Joe pulled away in the fourth quarter, winning, 78-66. The Gaels (7-1) will face Sidwell Friends (6-0), an 82-71 winner over the host Eagles, in tonight's championship game at George Washington at 6:45. Ohio State-bound Kameron Williams came up big again, scoring 28 points.

A bullet grazed the leg of a Baltimore County police officer Wednesday when her weapon discharged during a struggle at University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center, police said Thursday. The suspect, Brian Dargan, 30, will be served charges of attempted first-degree murder and attempted second-degree escape upon his release from the Towson hospital, police said. Dargan is being held on $25,000 bail for unrelated burglary charges and was brought to St. Joseph from U.S. District Court for medical treatment.