Kevin Branch dunk finally secures Reserve Christian win with :10 to go

By CALEB FREY

Sportswriter

RESERVE – With the East St. John Gym just bursting from the seams Tuesday night with fans, the Wildcats took on the Reserve Christian Eagles in a heavily anticipated match-up for both teams. The last time they met, the Eagles’ Demond &#8220Tweety” Carter exploded for 74 points. This time around East St. John was much more prepared for Tweety and although he has shown he can be a one-man team, a group effort was needed for the Eagles to pull this one out in the waning seconds by a score of 52-48.

Defense was the name of the game throughout. The Wildcats managed to hold the Eagles to only 7 points by nearly the end of the first quarter. East St, John’s Brandon Neal dropped a three-pointer with 50 seconds left to increase their lead to 13-9.

The second quarter began with the Eagles’ Carter sinking two free-throw to cut the lead to 13-11 followed by an acrobatic leap by Carter for the steal but the ensuing three missed the mark. Carter finished with 13 points while fighting constant double and triple teams nearly every time he touched the ball.

Following an Eddren Mccain block, Carter got the ball and dished to Johnson in the post for two that cut the lead to 17-16 nearly halfway through the second quarter. The Reserve Christian faithful were certainly on hand as evident by the roaring chants of DEFENSE during East St. John’s possessions. Not to be outdone, the Wildcat fans roared back on every shot ESJ hit letting all know whose home floor the Eagles were playing on.

RC’s Kevin Branch hit one of two free-throws with about two minutes in the half to cut the lead to 20-17 is immediately answered on the other side of the floor by an outlet pass that led to a one-handed jam from Trenton Marshal, sending the packed crowd into a frenzy.

Mccain capped off the half with a three-pointer to make it 26-24 ESJ.

The Wildcat’s Jamaan Kenner started the second half off just like the first ended, by nailing a three-pointer. Eagles’ Kevin Branch decided to post-up and match Kenner’s three with one of his own cutting the lead to 29-27 with about seven minutes to play.

Some back and forth scoring by both teams finally ends with a McCain three-pointer to give the Eagles the lead by two, 33-35, with four minutes to play in the third quarter.

Trenton Marshal cleared the boards on a missed shot and hit the put-back to tie the game.

&#8220The way it happened last time, I told them it was going to be a dogfight,” Byrd said. &#8220Our championship caliber came out at the end though.”