By RYAN ARENA

Sports Editor

As one of three ranked teams from District 9-3A in the latest LSWA Class 3A basketball poll, Lutcher knew it could ill-afford to leave the St. Charles gym with a loss — as it did a year ago — in its district opener.

This time, the Bulldogs left nothing to chance.

Lutcher led by double figures throughout the second half on Tuesday night as it coasted to a 70-50 victory over St. Charles to earn its first district win.

“It’s hard to play here. We always seem to struggle,” said Lutcher Coach Kevin Straub. “We were a little sloppy at times. We missed six or seven layups in the first quarter, but after that we settled down and played pretty well.”

With district foes Plaquemine (ranked first in the poll) and Port Allen (fourth) both looking like strong contenders again in 2009, the game carried extra weight for the district title hopes for both the Bulldogs (ranked eighth) and the Comets.

And, of course, there’s the rivalry aspect.

“They’re the biggest rival we have at Lutcher,” said the Bulldogs’ Chris Richardson, who scored a game-high 23 points. “We always look forward to playing them.”

Lutcher (14-6, 1-0) was a terror for St. Charles (5-14, 0-1) in the open court. Comet misses almost always led to the Bulldogs pushing the ball and often finishing at the rim, putting their athleticism was put on display for all to see.

“It’s exciting for us when we run,” said Richardson. “Almost everyone plays football, so we’re used to it. We just run and gun, like Coach says.”

St. Charles Coach Chris Perrone said that the problem was aggravated by his team’s lack of execution under the boards.

“They hit the boards pretty hard. When you don’t block out, you’re in for a long night against that team,” he said. “We made a couple shots when we needed to, but we gave up too many second chance points and back door layups.”

Bruce Bejoile scored 20 points for the Bulldogs. Teammate Dexter McCoil added 15.

Gabe Corchiani led SCC scored 15 to lead St. Charles. Zach Goodwin added 10.

SCC led 8-4 early in the first quarter, but Terrick Jackson and McCoil led a surge that turned the game completely around — an 18-0 Bulldogs run that extended into the second quarter and put LHS ahead 22-8. SCC did not score again until Birch Matus scored with 4:45 left in the first half.

DeMarcus Bernard kept SCC’s hopes alive at the end of the first half. He hit two foul shots, then made a steal and a 3-pointer as time expired to cut a 15-point Lutcher lead to 34-24 at halftime.

After two Bulldogs baskets began the second half, Harley Scioneaux got SCC back on track with a bucket, then Gabe Corchiani hit a 3-pointer and a foul shot. SCC trailed 38-30.

Lutcher fired right back with a 10-3 run, capped by a Bejoile jumper with under a minute left. From there, the Comets would get no closer than 10.

“We’d get it to eight, and they’d push it right back to 12,” said Perrone. “We couldn’t make the push we needed to. I thought our effort could have been a lot better.”