Carter dominates again with 37 points, Porter, Branch and Brozos do the rest

By JOHNNY PEPPO

Sports Editor

RESERVE–The Eagles brought their hardwood hustle home this week in a game against Holy Cross on Tuesday, sending the Crusaders back to New Orleans with a 92-79 loss.

The victory boosted the Reserve Christian squad to an 8-0 record on the season and primed them to enter into the Woodlawn Invitational tournament, which concludes today in Baton Rouge, where the Eagles will play with some of the top competition in the state.

&#8220Five of the top ten teams in the state will be playing in that tournament,” said Coach Tim Byrd. &#8220We’ll probably wind up taking on Northside in the second round and they’re coming in this year with a real good team. But I just don’t know — it’s hard to tell how these teams will react to all of the disruption that’s happened.”

In Tuesday’s match-up, Reserve Christian scored first in the opening minute off of a basket by Kevin Branch to take the lead, which they never did give up. Holy Cross kept it respectable early on pulling to within one just under halfway through the first period, but the Eagles went on a ten-point run courtesy of Demond &#8220Tweety” Carter. Carter’s burst opened up the lane for Tinos Brozos to add four more consecutive points before Holy Cross’s Dustin Benedict sank a pair of buckets to end the quarter 26-12.

Reserve Christian picked up right where they left off in the second, as Carter scored nine of the Eagles first 13 points in the quarter, then began dishing it out to Porter and Branch, who helped build the lead to 46-29 going into halftime.

After the break, Reserve Christian returned to the floor a bit more lethargic, if you can call a 17-point quarter lethargic. But the lower offensive output was matched by a defensive effort that barely allowed Holy Cross to score double digits in the third period. The Crusaders’ Benedict kept the Eagles honest on defense, at one point scoring six points in a four-minute span, but Carter and Daniel Johnson combined to counter that with a run of their own.

The final quarter found Carter on the bench after the first few minutes while Branch led the team on the floor, thrilling the home crowd with an emphatic dunk early on. But Reserve Christian seemed to get a bit comfortable with the lead, allowing Holy Cross to net 35 points in the quarter to make the game look tighter than it actually was with a 92-79 final.

Carter led all scorers in the game with 37 points while Porter, Branch and Brozos combined for almost all of the other 55 points scored by the Eagles.