Towson Catholic

Second-ranked Towson Catholic, No. 6 St. Frances and No. 9 Archbishop Spalding are still in contention for the Baltimore Catholic League regular-season title and top seed in next weekend's BCL Tournament at Goucher College. Towson Catholic (24-7) and Spalding (18-10) are 10-3 in BCL play, and St. Frances (18-7) is 9-4 going into today's final games. The Owls play host to St. Maria Goretti (17-16, 7-5) in Towson; St. Frances visits Spalding in Severn. Both games are at 3: 30 p.m. Towson Catholic or Spalding can win the title outright by winning while the other loses, but St. Frances cannot and has to win while Towson Catholic loses.

FROSTBURG -- Towson Catholic had too much for Cumberland's Bishop Walsh, advancing yesterday to the consolation championship game of the 38th Alhambra Tournament with a 74-40 win at Frostburg State University.Towson Catholic will play Archbishop Carroll (D.C.) at 4: 45 p.m. today.The Owls (25-10) were led by Todd Sykes, who scored 14 points, nine in the first quarter when the Owls jumped to a 12-6 lead. Sykes also blocked four shots.Steven Johnson scored 13 points, and Keith Jenifer added 12 and Lafonte Johnson 11. Thabo Letsebe led Towson on the boards with seven rebounds, and Lafonte Johnson had eight assists.

FROSTBURG -- Sharif Butler scored 25 points to lead Towson Catholic (24-12) to a 60-53 come-from-behind victory over St. John's of Ontario (39-6) in the second round of the Alhambra Tournament yesterday.The Owls, who trailed 31-16 at halftime, went on an 11-0 run late in the third period to close the gap to 39-35 with 7:38 left in the game.With 3:53 remaining, Butler made a free throw to tie the game at 44. Charles Harrison then stole a pass and made a layup to give Towson Catholic a 46-44 lead.

Walbrook coach Kelvin Bridges said earlier in the week that his Warriors were prepared to handle the area's No. 1 ranking. In its first major test, last night at the Function in the Junction Mixer, the host Warriors outlasted No. 4 Towson Catholic, 78-73, in double overtime. Walbrook (3-0) gained a 75-73 advantage with 32 seconds remaining in the second overtime after two free throws by Donte Draper. Steve Woodard blocked an attempt by Towson Catholic's All-City/County guard Darnell Hopkins, and Jamal Booker was fouled with 10 seconds left for Walbrook.

Top-ranked Towson Catholic (31-4) will play St. John's (24-7) of Washington, The Washington Post's fourth-ranked boys basketball team, in the first round of the 47th Alhambra Catholic Invitational Tournament at 5:45 p.m. next Thursday at Frostburg State University. Led by Donte Greene (Syracuse) and Malcom Delaney (Virginia Tech), the Owls are in the bracket opposite of The Post's No. 1 team, DeMatha (26-5), and it's conceivable the teams could meet in the final March 17.

Towson Catholic High School's surprise closing this month has left dozens of families scrambling to find new schools for the fall semester. Now the 163 students who had enrolled at the Towson school are scattering, with some heading to Baltimore Lutheran School, others to Catholic schools such as Calvert Hall and Mercy, and still others to public high schools. Some students have not figured out where they're going; and others are pinning their hopes on a court hearing scheduled Friday, when a Baltimore County judge will be asked to block Towson Catholic's closing.

Allow Towson Catholic coach Mike Daniel a single word to describe Southern's basketball team and he would not be hard-pressed."Athletic" would leap from his lips.Better still, make that two words."Very athletic," Daniel said.No. 8 Towson Catholic got a harsh reminder of just how athletic No. 2 Southern is yesterday in a Maryland Scholastic Association A Conference Division II game. Visiting Southern breezed, 76-55, as Kwame Evans scored 27 points.When Daniel describes Southern as athletic, he is referring more to Evans than any other player.

The inconsistency of Towson Catholic has bothered coach Mike Daniels. But he can't complain about his team's record in the Catholic League.Yesterday, the No. 11 Owls improved to 4-1 with a 57-47 victory over No. 20 St. Frances in a preliminary game of the Charm City Classic at the Towson Center.Junior guard Reggie Rhinehart led all scorers for Towson Catholic (10-6 overall) with 22 points and had four assists. Junior forward Shariff Butler added 17 and 11 rebounds."Again, as I seem to say in every interview, 'I'm trying to get some consistency here,' " said Daniels, whose team trails only Cardinal Gibbons (5-0)

Host Cardinal Gibbons went into last night's Catholic League game with the idea of forcing Towson Catholic to shoot from the outside.What the Crusaders didn't account for, however, was the Owls' ability to make those shots.Fourth-ranked Towson Catholic shot 67 percent from the field, ,, pulling away in the second half for a 77-63 win over the 19th-ranked Crusaders."To be honest, I thought if we could make them shoot the ball from the outside that we had a chance to win the game," said Cardinal Gibbons coach Bryan Moorhouse.

For three quarters, it appeared Loyola High and Towson Catholic were headed for one of those typical down-to-the-wire Catholic League finishes last night at Blakefield.Then, Sidney Johnson, the Owls' senior point guard, fouled out bTC early in the fourth period and with him went all prospects of an exciting finish.Loyola, ranked sixth in The Baltimore Sun's top 20, took over the game and rolled to a 65-48 victory, gaining a share of second place in the league with Towson Catholic."Once Johnson went out with the fouls, they were really hurt," said Dons' coach Jerry Savage.