By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

NEW ORLEANS – East St. John wouldn’t wilt after Jesuit’s first push, nor its second.

But playing on their home floor, the Blue Jays finally found a way to hold the visiting Wildcats at bay, advancing to the second round of the Class 5A playoffs with a 68-56 victory.

Jesuit was scheduled to face No. 22 ranked Baton Rouge-Catholic, which upset 11th seeded Hahnville to move on.

Jesuit led 46-45 entering the fourth quarter. The Blue Jays began the final period on a 12-4 run that put Jesuit ahead by nine and in control for good.

The Blue Jays’ Dominick Scelfo led all scorers with 16 points. Brady Hadden scored 14, and Alec Melendreras added 10.

For the Wildcats (15-16), Kalen Henderson and D’haquille Williams each scored 10, and Kaylon Placide added nine.

Jesuit (23-10) built leads of 11-3 in the first quarter and 30-23 at halftime, but East St. John was able to erase each to take the lead.

But in the game’s late stages, ESJ just didn’t have another rally left.

“I was proud of how our guys withstood it all,” said Jesuit coach Chris Jennings. “East St. John’s got a really good team. This was a tough draw.”

Said East St. John coach Yussef Jasmine: “I thought Jesuit stuck to their gameplan, and we deviated from ours. When we stuck to our plan, we executed well. But for whatever reason, we didn’t do it enough. Maybe we had a little playoff anxiety.”

Scelfo began the fourth quarter with a three-point play, and Melendreras followed with a 3-pointer to push Jesuit’s lead to seven.

ESJ’s Rashad Green drilled a jumper, and Williams scored in the lane to stem the Jesuit tide. But after a layup by Scelfo and two free throws by Colby Kiefer, Jesuit was out to its biggest lead night to that point, nine.

Marcus Robinson’s 3-pointer drew East St. John within six with three minutes remaining, but Jesuit scored the next six points of the game to effectively finish ESJ’s season.

Jesuit led by as many as eight in the first half, but an East St. John surge erased a 15-7 second-quarter lead and put Jesuit back on its heels. Patrick Gales hit a jumper for ESJ. Williams made a putback and drew a foul, then LeBaron Sylvester putback Williams’ missed free throw. Williams scored again to cap an 11-0 run, giving ESJ an 18-15 lead.

“We knew we would be able to get offensive rebounds against them, and we knew we could get it inside,” said Jasmine. “We just didn’t do it enough.”

But the Blue Jays ended the half on an 11-3 run to take a seven-point lead into the half.

“We knew they could shoot it, and we knew they’d be disciplined offensively. So none of it was a shock to us,” said Jasmine.

ESJ trailed 38-33 in the third quarter before Henderson found Placide open for a basket. Henderson’s own free throw made it 38-36. Kiefer added two free throws for Jesuit, but Williams and Kody Duhe each scored to tie the game at 40. A Henderson basket gave ESJ its first lead of the second half, 45-44.

“We were shooting it too quickly early in the second half,” said Jennings. “Once we stopped doing that, we were fine.”

But from there, it was the Blue Jays’ night.

“Looking back on the season, our record wasn’t what we wanted it to be. I was out awhile, and we dealt with a lot of adversity,” said Jasmine. “But from our young kids going through it all, it’s a silver lining. We’ve got a real good group coming back that’s a little more seasoned.”