Freshman guard Devin Ainsworth scored 17 points to lead four Saints in double figures, as #4 St. Stephen’s St. Agnes won a road game at #18 Flint Hill Wednesday night, 64-59. The non-conference victory was SSSA’s 11th win in its last 12 games.
The Saints got off to a hot start offensively, going up 7-0 and forcing a Flint Hill time out. The time out didn’t cool off the visitors, however, as SSSA went on to score 21 first quarter points. In the second quarter the Saints weren’t as hot, but they still took a 36-23 into halftime. SSSA hit eight first half threes, with Ainsworth accounting for three, junior guard Marcus Hancock three, and junior guard Julian Burgdolf two.
Hancock hit two more from long range in the second half, but his team finally started to cool off after taking a 42-27 lead and forcing another Huskies time out. As the Saints cooled off, Flint Hill senior guard Jack Loyd heated up, scoring 12 points in the third quarter alone to help close the SSSA lead to 50-44 entering the fourth.
While the Saints only shot 36% from the field in the second half, they still found a way to hold off the Huskies.
“Defense,” replied Saints Coach Andre Hunter when asked how his team gutted out the win after the team’s perimeter shooting went away.
“We got to defend, we know that shots go in and sometimes they don’t, so no matter what we have to defend,” he continued. “We hit shots first half, they hit shots in the second half, and at the end of the day getting stops is what matters. I think we got stops when we needed to toward the end.”
It helped having senior forward Riley Jacobs and UMBC commit around as well. Jacobs scored 10 of his 12 points in the second half–sorely needed when the Saints stopped hitting from long range. Plus, as usual he was a big part of the SSSA defense, patrolling the lane and protecting the rim.

The battle was one of two teams in second place in their respective conferences, with St. Stephen’s St. Agnes in second place in the IAC, and Flint Hill in second place in the MAC. The Saints (18-3) are eager to get another shot at Bullis (MD), their only IAC loss, and have high hopes for both that league’s tournament and the VISAA state tourney afterwards.
“I tell people all the time, my team, they love each other,” Coach Hunter said. “They like playing together and they’re really buying into the things that we’re doing, so it helps on the floor.”
“They trust each other…since we’ve had some success, they’ve started to really believe we’re as good as we think we are. Long as we keep playing defense, I think we’ve got a shot to beat anybody.”
Flint Hill (10-9) was led by Loyd’s 19 points, and got good play from its bench unit, led by sophomore forward Blake Fitzgerald, who had 11 points.
–Chris Jollay
all statistics are unofficial
SSSA | FG | FT | TP | REB | AST | |
BURGDOLF | 4-11 | 3-5 | 13 | 5 | 3 | |
HANCOCK | 5-9 | 0-1 | 15 | 5 | 2 | |
POLLOCK | 2-6 | 1-2 | 5 | 8 | 3 | |
AINSWORTH | 6-14 | 2-2 | 17 | 2 | 2 | |
JACOBS | 5-9 | 2-2 | 12 | 4 | 2 | |
Stafford | 1-1 | 0-0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | |
Sauri | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
TOTALS | 23-52 | 8-12 | 64 | 25 | 13 | |
Threes: Hancock 5-9, Ainsworth 3-8, Burgdolf 2-7, Pollock 0-1, Sauri 0-2 | ||||||
FLINT HILL | FG | FT | TP | REB | AST | |
LOYD | 6-13 | 5-7 | 19 | 3 | 0 | |
E.JONES | 2-5 | 0-0 | 4 | 3 | 1 | |
HARRIS | 5-8 | 0-0 | 10 | 4 | 3 | |
K.JONES | 2-4 | 0-0 | 5 | 8 | 3 | |
WEST | 2-4 | 0-0 | 4 | 8 | 2 | |
Fitzgerald | 5-10 | 0-0 | 11 | 2 | 2 | |
Fletcher | 2-7 | 0-0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | |
Castleberry | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
TOTALS | 24-51 | 5-7 | 59 | 29 | 12 | |
Threes: Fletcher 2-5, Loyd 2-6, Fitzgerald 1-1, K.Jones 1-1, E.Jones 0-1, West 0-1, Harris 0-2 |