Spalding boys basketball wasn’t ready to play its last game of the season on Sunday. It was that simple.

With that possibility in the Baltimore Catholic League quarterfinals, the No. 5 Cavaliers brought energy, intensity and a shared goal against No. 4 John Carroll.

After 32 minutes of sensational defense and rebounding with balanced work on offense, Spalding rolled to the semifinals with a 74-53 win over the Patriots at Loyola University’s Reitz Arena.

TJ Moultrie was the catalyst, scoring 23 points and grabbing seven rebounds. Nash Avery added 19 points and Colt Busse scored 11.

Early injuries came with a demanding schedule, and then a disappointing opening-round loss to Mount Saint Joseph in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference Tournament. Now, the Cavaliers (20-13) are one win away from the BCL title game.

They’ll return to Reitz Arena on Monday to play No. 1 St. Frances, believing it’s their time.

“We had a week and a half of practice and preparation after coming up short in the MIAA, and it was nothing but high energy and high intensity. Everybody had each other’s back, and we were ready to play today,” Busse said.

Led by Moultrie, Spalding set an early tone and never let up.

He opened the scoring with an inside basket on the Cavaliers’ first possession and then made a 3-pointer for a 7-0 lead.

Up 18-12 early in the second quarter, the Cavaliers pulled away and built a 20-point lead with Moultrie and Busse accounting for 14 points in the frame.

The lead grew to 25 in the third quarter and remained insurmountable, allowing Spalding to empty the bench with a 23-point lead with 3:02 left.

Spalding shot 60% from the field and limited the Patriots to 31%, including 16% from beyond the 3-point line.

“I think in practice we set the tone that we went home a lot earlier than we expected [in the MIAA A Tournament], so we had to be tougher,” Moultrie said. “We weren’t tough in the MIAA, and today we came out with a really tough win. We won the rebounding battle and we got stops defensively, and that’s what we’ve been preaching all week.”

St. Frances got the better of Spalding twice in the regular season, each time by three points.

Spalding coach Josh Pratt believes all those obstacles the season has brought his team closer and ready for more winning. St. Frances will bring a demanding challenge.

“We’ve got to be ready to go, and our team defense has got to be really good. If we defend and rebound, we’ll be in the game,” he said.

For John Carroll, which finishes with a 22-10 mark, Sunday’s performance was a tough way to go out and not indicative of an otherwise strong season. Senior Aidan Able, who became the program’s all-time leading scorer with more than 2,400 points, finished with 14 points and nine rebounds.

Asked what Able brought to the program in his four-year career, John Carroll coach Seth Goldberg took time to put it in perspective.

“So hard to put that into words after the tough one we had tonight, but great kid, great leader, great family. It wasn’t the way we wanted it to end for any of our seniors, but we’re really proud of all the work they put in on and off the court,” he said.

Parris Lee finished with 21 points to lead the Patriots, who got 12 points from Andrew Clark.

Sp: Bogard 2, Busse 11, Lonergan 6, Moultrie 23, Avery 19, Farmer 1, Williams 5, Wilson 3, Davis 2, Buchman 2

JC: Able 14, Lee 21, Westervelt 3, Clark 12, Shoffner 1, Johnson 2

More BCL quarterfinals

No. 1 St. Frances 74, Loyola Blakefield 57: Chance McCoy had 20 points and the Panthers (34-7) rallied from a five-point halftime deficit to advance.

Anthony Smith added 15 points, Jaliel Spears had 12 and Brian McMahon contributed 11 for the winners.

Olofinitila and Colin Clevenger scored 13 each for the Dons, who close the season with an 8-20 record.

LB: Olofinitila 13, Clevenger 13, Hall Jr. 8, Haysbert 9, Harper 4, Simmons 2, Kadiri 2

SF: McCoy 20, Smith 15, Spears 12, McMahon 11, Jones III 3, Fisk 4, Glover 4, Grimes 3, Kaselski 2

No. 2 Mount Carmel 53, St. Mary’s 46: Junior Mancho scored 14 points and Samartine Hill added 13 as the defending champion Cougars (29-10) held off the Saints.

Mount Carmel takes on Mount Saint Joseph in the semifinals at 8 p.m. Monday.

The teams split the two regular-season games — Mount Saint Joe won, 63-60, on Jan. 26 before Mount Carmel avenged that defeat with a 66-61 victory on Feb. 6.

St. Mary’s got a game-high 16 points from Chisom Eze and 13 from Ezra Rich. The Saints closed out their first season in the BCL with a 9-26 mark.

SM: Eze 16, Rich 13, Cerny 8, Johnson 4, Bieberich 2, Riley 3

MC: Rudusans 9, Howard 7, Mancho 14, Hill 13, Wilson 9, Johnson 1

No. 3 Mount Saint Joseph 80, Calvert Hall 66: The Gaels (31-7) took an early lead and stayed in charge with Saxton Simley and BJ Ranson sharing game-high honors with 22 points to go with seven rebounds apiece.

Chauncey Word added 13 points in the win, while the Cardinals (14-21) got 20 points from Billy Stanfield III and 19 from Cameron Wood.

CH: Wood 19, Tucker 6, Johnson 12, Solomon 5, Stanfield III 20, Robinson 4

MSJ: Ranson 22, Ch. Word 13, Early Jr. 3,  Simley 22, Anthony 6, Hudgins 8, Ci. Word 6

Have a news tip? Contact Glenn Graham at ggraham@baltsun.com, 410-332-6636 and x.com/GlennGrahamSun.