MICHAEL KIRAL

BATON ROUGE – St. James held off a fourth-quarter rally by Redemptorist for a 70-64 victory in the Class 3A regionals Friday night. Defending Class 3A state champion St. James (19-6) moves on to the quarterfinals for the second straight year. The Wildcats will play the winner of last night’s Amite-Port Allen game later this week. Redemptorist, the District 7-3A champions, finished at 23-7. St. James scored the first eight points of the contest and took a 20-17 lead at the end of the first quarter on a 3-pointer by Erron Hickerson. A 17-12 second quarter run gave the Wildcats a 37-29 lead at the half. Redemptorist pulled to within 56-49 at the end of the third quarter and twice was within a basket in the fourth. Stevenson Jones led the way for St. James with 20 points. Henry Washington tossed in another 15 points and Derrick Jones had 10. Justin Aubert chipped in with nine and LaVar Joseph with seven. Redemptorist was led by Marlo LeBlanc with 20 points. Elliot Brock added another 10 points. Reserve Christian 80, Zwolle 60 ZWOLLE – Reserve Christian jumped out to a 20-15 first quarter lead and didn’t look back, rolling to a 80-60 victory at Zwolle in the Class B regionals Friday night. Reserve Christian (35-15) advances to its third straight quarterfinals in the LHSAA. The Eagles will travel to Holden Friday night. Holden defeated Bell City, 64-50, Friday. Zwolle, the District 4-B runner-up, finished at 29-13. Reserve Christian led 42-35 at the half and 59-51 at the end of the third quarter. Demond Carter led all scorers with 28 points for the Eagles. Matt McGee had 17 and Frankie Francois 13. Christian Life 78, Riverside 56 RESERVE – Christian Life overcame 12 3-pointers by Riverside to rally for a 78-56 victory in the Class 2A regionals Friday night. Christian Life (19-12) will host Newman in the quarterfinals Friday night. Newman defeated St. Thomas Aquinas, 63-50, Friday. Riverside, which played in the regionals for the first time in the LHSAA, finished at 17-14. The game was tied at 15 at the end of the first quarter before the Rebels took a 25-24 halftime lead. But Christian Life out-scored Riverside, 30-13, in the third quarter that included a 15-2 run to take a 54-38 lead into the fourth quarter. Michael Schoen hit six 3-pointers, including four straight in the fourth quarter, to lead the Rebels with 23 points. Damian Melancon added 14 points behind four 3-pointers. Craig Tearney also scored 14 points and had two 3-pointers. Michael Clayton scored a game-high 24 points for the Crusaders. Chijaun Mack added 20 points and Victor Smith had 12 points. Westgate 70, Lutcher 68 (OT) LUTCHER – Westgate scored late to send its Class 3A regional playoff game at Lutcher into overtime, then scored late in the extra period to pull out a 70-68 victory Friday night. Westgate (23-10) advances to host Landry in the quarterfinals Friday. Landry defeated Kaplan, 84-72, Friday. Lutcher, playing in its first regional since 1988, ended the season at 22-13. Donnie Francois hit a jumper with 15 seconds left in regulation to give the Bulldogs a 62-60 lead. Joseph Polite tipped in a miss with a second left to send the game into overtime. Westgate took a four-point lead early in the overtime before Francois buried a 3-pointer to give the Bulldogs a 68-66 lead. Aaron Chenevert hit two free throws to tie the game at 68. Dexter Fuselier then drove in for a layup to give Westgate a 70-68 lead. Lutcher had one last chance but Polite grabbed a miss by Francois as the buzzer sounded. Lutcher trailed 19-11 at the end of the first quarter but pulled to within 33-29 at halftime. An 18-13 third quarter run gave the Bulldogs a 47-46 lead going into the fourth quarter. Francois and Jeremy Foreman each had 19 points to lead Lutcher. Courtney Long added another 15 points. Westgate was led by Polite with 24 points. Chenevert had 14 points and Juan Delahoussaye nine.