RESERVE — The East St. John boys basketball team is looking to move up in 2015.

The Wildcats finished second in last year’s District 7-5A race, but Coach Yussef Jasmine said he hopes to take the top spot this year. And the team is off to a solid start, he said.

“We’re doing pretty good,” Jasmine said. “We have a lot of young players – I have a freshman point guard, a sophomore two-guard and a center who is a sophomore. We’re getting great experience and experimenting a lot with our offense.”

The Wildcats started the season with a loss to East Ascension, then rallied later that week for a 64-51 victory over St. Augustine. Then the team dropped a rough one to McDonogh 35, 66-35.

“We really didn’t play well at all against McDonogh 35,” Jasmine said. “I thought we had played really well against St. Aug.”

This weekend the Wildcats are participating in the 16-team CYO Tournament, which they won last season for the first time. They opened the competition with a solid 66-35 win over Holy Cross behind senior Troy Green and sophomore Allen Williams, who finished with 28 points against the Tigers.

On Thursday, East St. John fell to St. Paul’s, 77-60.

St. Charles Catholic

St. Charles Catholic opened its season with a pair of victories. The Comets took a 62-39 win over Pope John Paul on Nov. 19, then defeated Maurepas 59-44 on Monday.

Next up is a rematch against Pope John Paul Tuesday in Slidell.

The rest of the River Parishes teams are still in football mode. Riverside will open its season Tuesday at home against West Jefferson. West St. John will begin Wednesday at Crescent City.

By Lori Lyons