By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

East St. John made history Friday night, and they did it against one of their most fierce rivals.

The Wildcats toppled host Hahnville in dramatic fashion, 57-55, to clinch an undefeated district championship for the first time in school history.

East St. John officially clinched its second outright district crown in three years last Tuesday against Dutchtown. But the Wildcats wanted to finish the job and go 10-0, a goal they had set in the preseason.

“I couldn’t be prouder,” said East St. John coach Yussef Jasmine. “We got the lead based on our defense. We had to make free throws. We had to get a stop at the end … and we did it in a hostile environment.

“We won’t play in a louder gym in the playoffs. They’re right on top of you, I had to huddle in real close with them so they could hear me. It speaks to the focus these guys came in with and how well they listen. This was a great thing for us to experience all around.”

Said Williams: “We got to make school history. It’s never been done, and we just kept our focus to get it done.”

After Jalen Kenner made one of two free throws to cut a Hahnville lead to one, 55-54, Patrick Washington came up with a huge defensive play with 18.2 seconds left, coming up with a steal at midcourt and dishing to Joseph Williams, who was fouled.

With the crowd noise at a peak level, Williams calmly stepped to the line and made both free throws, giving ESJ (20-12, 10-0) a 56-55 lead.

“Coach makes us shoot 50 free throws every day at practice. It paid off tonight,” said Williams.

Hahnville (16-15, 6-6) had a chance to retake the lead when East St. John was whistled for a foul on the ensuing inbounds pass, and Jaylen Bryant stepped to the line for two shots with 7.4 seconds left.

He missed both and Elex Carter gathered in the rebound before getting fouled with 5.6 seconds left.

He made one of two free throws to make it 57-55.

The Wildcats then dug in defensively and prevented Hahnville from getting a final shot off.

Williams led East St. John with 16 points. Emmanuel Victor scored 11 and Rashad Green scored 10.

Typically, the beginning of the fourth quarter is when East St. John stakes its claim to a victory with a game-busting run. But this time, Hahnville had other ideas.

East St. John led 41-40 at the end of three quarters on Washington’s off-balance layup. But Jerqwinick Sandolph started to get on a roll for Hahnville – he made a 3-pointer then a long two-point jumper, then made two free throws and all of a sudden, the Tigers led 47-41.

Then came the East St. John run that fans had become accustomed to over the previous nine district games. Williams converted a jumper to make it 47-43, then Emmanuel Victor canned a 3-pointer to make it 47-46 with 4:36 left to play.

“Coach put me in the game to make shots,” said Victor. “That’s my role and that’s what I knew I had to do.”

Chester Victor missed a free throw but made up for it, nailing a 3-pointer from the wing to give ESJ it’s first lead of the quarter, 49-47. Emmanuel Victor capped a 10-0 run with a score in transition to put the Wildcats ahead by four.

“(Emmanuel Victor) came in and made some big, big shots,” said Jasmine.

Said Victor: “Even when we got down, we stayed poised. We knew if we stayed patient on offense, we’d come back.”

Derek Howard scored the next two baskets for Hahnville to tie the game, on a turnaround jumper and a wide open layup with two minutes left. Then Sandolph struck again with a bucket with 1:21 left to put HHS up by two.

Williams tied the game for ESJ at the foul line, but Khari Milton put Hahnville ahead by two again with a pair of free throws, making it 55-53.

Hahnville led 27-24 at halftime. The Wildcats led 4-0 early, but once Hahnville took a 5-4 lead, the Tigers would lead until the very end of the third quarter.

Howard led all scorers with 18 points. Sandolph chimed in with 17.

“We’d lost so many games in predistrict down the stretch. But that taught us to keep our poise, and we withstood it tonight,” said Jasmine.