By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

RESERVE — Three days before their District 8-5A rematch with Hahnville, East St. John players spoke of the need to recapture their “mojo” from earlier this season, when the Wildcats were putting teams away early and winning by significant margins.

On Friday night, the Wildcats got back to business, downing the Tigers 63-51 at the Leon Godchaux Junior High gymnasium.

“I think we put special emphasis on playing defense tonight. We had gotten a little too lax,” said East St. John coach Yussef Jasmine. “We were stagnant, not matching up with other teams and making them work. We played with a lot more energy on the defensive end tonight.”

East St. John defeated Hahnville in a 63-62 thriller on Jan. 15, the first meeting between the teams; since then, ESJ had won three of four, but only one by double figures.

Prior to the Hahnville game, ESJ was in the midst of a dominant stretch in which it topped Destrehan by 21, Higgins by 16, Brother Martin by 19 and Riverside by 21. A 47-35 loss to Higgins Jan. 25 snapped an eight game ESJ win streak, and the Wildcats narrowly escaped Destrehan four days later via a 64-62 score.

“We weren’t playing like we did early on, the way we need to,” said Wildcats forward Isreal Bell, who scored 13 points. “We did our best to keep them from taking good shots tonight … We’ve been talking about how we need to play harder and we put it into action tonight.”

Perhaps the team’s “mojo” was always inside the Godchaux gym, where ESJ has yet to lose in seven games this season.

“We haven’t lost here and we don’t want to,” said Bell.

Tre’Von Jasmine led East St. John with 18 points. Edwin Winston scored 10. Elex Carter tallied eight points and eight rebounds but made his biggest impact on the defensive end, where he blocked seven shots.

For Hahnville, Todge Scott and Juwan Green each led the way with 18 points. Dejon Peters added seven.

As East St. John did against Shaw, Jesuit and Higgins at Godchaux in earlier contests, the Wildcats leapt out to a big first quarter lead, this time finishing the first frame with an 18-7 advantage. Raekwon McKnight and Winston each scored six points in the quarter.

ESJ doubled up Hahnville at one point in the second quarter, leading 32-16. The Tigers made a push before halftime after a pair of 3-pointers by Scott made it a 10-point game. ESJ led 34-23 at the half.

But East St. John took little time to put things away after the break, besting its first quarter flurry behind another stout defensive stand and efficient shot selection. Bell got ESJ started on a putback, then Jasmine sank a 3 from the corner to make it 39-23 after the Wildcats’ first two possessions.

Timmy Roberts made a jumper to  answer for Hahnville, but Jasmine answered with a layup at the other end. Bell then canned a 3 from the wing and the Wildcats’ lead ballooned to 44-25 with 4:48 left in the third quarter.

“We’ve got a lot of people who can score the ball,” said Yussef Jasmine.

Jasmine’s second 3 of the quarter came on an assist from Kyle Patterson, making it 47-29. Troy Green fed Aaron Ridley for a layup to give ESJ its largest lead to that point, 51-31.

ESJ led by as many as 23 in the second half. Hahnville rallied in the fourth quarter behind a scoring flurry by Green, who scored nine in the frame, but never got closer than 10.  

“Playing two rivals in the same week can be tough. We talked about that,” said Yussef Jasmine.

“But these teams are tough for everyone. We can’t use that as an excuse. Our guys came out ready for this and dominated the game tonight.”