Reserve Christian holds on for win against Rams
Published 12:00 am Monday, December 19, 2005
Eagles now set to head out of state for pair of tournaments
By JOHNNY PEPPO
Sports Editor
EDGARD– West St. John’s Ram basketball team played host on Tuesday to Reserve Christian and made a game of it after falling way behind in the second quarter. But a nine point scoring advantage in the fourth quarter just wasn’t enough to overcome the 16 point deficit that they made in the second period of play, and WSJ fell to 2-4 on the season with an 85-72 loss.
The win for Reserve Christian puts them at 20-3 on the season as they set to make a scheduled road trip to a pair of tournaments in Florida and Oregon before year’s end.
The Class 1A Rams came strong out of the gate on Tuesday, going blow for blow with the reigning Class B state champion Eagles.
After almost a quarter of play, Reserve Christian began to pull away when Eddren McCain broke an 18 all tie with a free throw and Kevin Branch took a steal all the way to the basket for a three-point lead.
Demond “Tweetie” Carter, a Baylor commitment who scored 74 points last week against ESJ, then got the offense jumpstarted by scoring the Eagles first eight points of the second quarter.
The Rams, many of whom were playing football in the state semi-finals three weeks ago, had trouble keeping up to speed with the Eagles. By halftime, WSJ had fallen behind 46-27.
The Rams rebounded after the break and made a push in the second half to keep it respectable with a 24-15 run, but were ultimately outplayed in the lane, consistently giving up offensive rebounds.
Carter led all scorers in the game, netting 34 points, while Tino Brozos got 20 and Branch posted 19. West St. John’s Tyren Johnson led the Rams in scoring with 25, Damian Morris got 18 and Dana Stipe scored 12.
The Eagles are scheduled to be in Fort Myers, Florida this weekend for the City of Palms Classic before playing in the Les Schwab Nike Invitational in Portland, Oregon after Christmas.
West St. John will stay a little closer to home with away games at the St. James tournament on Monday and Lutcher on Friday to take on the Bulldogs.
