Spartans previous state semifinal berth nixed by the COVID-19 pandemic

Last Friday evening marked the first 3A state final appearance for the St. Charles High School boys basketball program and it came four years to the day after the Spartans’ expected initial berth in that contest was among the first scheduling casualties of the COVID-19 pandemic.

St. Charles, as was the case with the Westlake High girls basketball team, had advanced to the Maryland state semifinals during the 2019-2020 season, but none of those contests were ever played. Basketball observers from across the state anticipated that St. Charles would play Baltimore-Polytechnic in the 3A finals, but that would invariably be left a topic for speculation.

While none of the current players were enrolled at St. Charles at the time, most of them were in the eighth grade and final year of middle school and they often attended Spartans’ games to get a glimpse of their future with the program. Last Friday evening brought a difficult ending for seniors Xavier Buchanan, Shamir Taylor and Tajir Webster as the Spartans squandered a 14-point fourth quarter lead and fell to Northeast of Anne Arundel County 69-66 in the 3A final.

“The last time that we won the region title and were supposed to play in the state semifinals, these guys were sitting behind our bench,” St. Charles coach Brett Campbell said. “They were eighth graders and they knew they were zoned for St. Charles and they would spend their next four years with us. They lost an entire season to COVID, but each year they continued to add to their resume.”

Last Friday afternoon Buchanan would lead all scorers with 31 points in a losing cause while Taylor added 22. Two days earlier in their 63-61 victory over Stephen Decatur in the 3A state semifinals at Wise, Taylor led the way with 25 points, including 11 in the fourth quarter. Taylor had also accounted for four crucial free throws in the last 75 seconds of the Spartans’ 63-60 victory over Wootton.

Coincidentally, four years earlier Northeast had also earned a berth in the 3A state semifinals that was among the first wave of casualties on the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. Eagles’ coach Roger O’Dea recalled that his 2019-2020 squad had been eager to make its first appearance in the 3A state semifinals when the final two rounds of the tournament was nixed by the pandemic.

“Four years ago I was hoping to be here with an entirely different group,” O’Dea said. “When these guys came in, I told them what was expected of them over the next four years. Even before this year, I had to cut some returning seniors and tell some of the other seniors that they would have to come in off the bench. As a group, I think they bought into everything right from the beginning and now they’re state champions.”