By RYAN ARENA
L’Observateur

RESERVE — East St. John’s boys basketball team     continued its run of dominant play at home on Tuesday night, this time toppling another strong 5A foe in Zachary, 50-34 at Leon Godchaux Jr. High.

Edwin Winston led East St. John (7-4) with 12 points. Elex Carter scored seven. Monterio Cage scored seven and Raekwon McKnight added six.

“I think we’re playing well,” said East St. John coach Yussef Jasmine. “We played those tough teams early and it exposed some of our weaknesses. That allowed us to make adjustments, and we’ve been playing at a higher level.”

Ronnie Freebis scored 11 to lead Zachary (10-5). Bryant Long added 10.

East St. John’s defense was the key to its win. The Wildcats struggled offensively in the first half, but a switch in defensive tempo kickstarted East St. John’s transition game — the Wildcats switched from zone to a man-to-man press.

“We missed too many easy baskets,” said Jasmine. “It could have been similar to the Jesuit game if we had converted on a lot of those … We went man-to-man to try and speed it up, and that helped us get some easy baskets.”

It worked. East St. John shifted to that look late in the second quarter and kept it going in the second half. ESJ led 21-16 at halftime and outscored Zachary 17-7 in the third quarter to create enough separation to put the game away.

The Wildcats have primarily been a man-to-man team under Jasmine in the past, but the team has shifted toward a zone look this season to keep 6-foot-7 center Elex Carter in the paint and to take advantage of the team’s length across the board.

“Our kids have come up playing man-to-man. It’s something we still work on in practice and they’re partial to playing that way,” said Jasmine. “We want to be able to go to that style and use it when we can get an advantage … but we need to be smart about it.”

Jasmine said the team’s bench played a major role, with none of usual top scorers Winston, Carter and Tre’Von Jasmine putting up big numbers on Tuesday.

“Those guys didn’t shoot well on this particular night,” Jasmine said of his top three scorers.

“But the guys coming off of our bench, regardless of what our starters do, have been coming in and filling their roles, every night.”

Jasmine said that he was proud of the way Cage, the team’s backup point guard, played under control down the stretch.

“He’s an aggressive player who always wants to attack. But when we had that lead in the fourth, he played a smart game,” said Jasmine. “He pulled the ball out, or attacked when we had a clear advantage. He didn’t push things unnecessarily.”