By ROBERT L. LEE

LUTCHER – The emotional clash between West St. John and East St. John at Saturday’s River Parish Shootout came down to the Rams maintaining their energy to take the 57-55 victory.

Rams’ head coach Antoine Edwards said he knew his players would be sluggish in the first half and wasn’t surprised when they were. The Rams had played Redeemer-Seton the night before, which turned into a physical game lasting into overtime. Because of impending foul trouble early in the game, players from the Rams’ reserves came off the bench and onto the court. Through the first minutes of overtime, the teams remained tied at 72, until one Redeemer-Seton foul shot went through the net and the other was finished for two points by a lay-up. The last few seconds gave both teams one point leads, until a final steal by the Rams brought them the win.

Edwards said his players exerted a lot of energy for the 78-75 win, so he told them to “relax and go with the flow” against the Wildcats. The flow sent the Wildcats up 16-11 after the first eight minutes.

Edwards said his defense was giving up points and getting hurt by not blocking out under the goal. When the Rams adapted to the Wildcats’ inside offense, they were hurt again as the Wildcats added up points three at a time from the outside.

“We needed to improve on defense, because when they missed a shot, they would get two or three more shots. When we did stop that, they banged three or four shots from the outside,” he explained.

Down 26-23 at the half, Edwards told his team they would have to work their way out of the hole and hold their ground.

“We just had to make up our minds and get more aggressive to maintain our ground. So far we’ve been able to find our way out of holes,” said Edwards. “But when you start from the beginning, you don’t have to put so much pressure at the end. Somehow, someway, they found the energy in the second half and we just found a way,” he continued.

The Wildcats finished the third quarter up again, increasing their lead to 44-38, but the Rams were saving their best strike for last. The final eight minutes saw the Rams pull ahead, scoring 19 points and holding the Wildcats to 11 for the two-point win, 57-55.

“I played 11 or 12 kids and they all contributed to the win. When we needed a big play, like a big rebound, they found a way. It was a total team effort,” said Edwards. He added that although tiring, these two games helped the Rams and their needed conditioning.