By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

LAPLACE — There’s a long way to go in district play yet for St. Charles, who has stood toe to toe with its first four foes in 7-3A, all of whom are ranked in the state’s top 25 in power points.

But it’s still been a trying time for the Comets, who have fallen in each of the four games by close margins.

On Friday night, St. James (13-9, 1-3) edged the Comets by two, 45-43, behind Owen Mumphrey’s 22 points.

For St. Charles (8-11, 0-4), Mike Green scored 16 points to lead the way. John Williams scored 10. Trent Dunn added seven and Trey Sutherland scored six.

Neither team led by more than six at any point and the teams traded the lead throughout.

SCC led by four in the final two minutes, but St. James was able to force the Comets into turnovers and established a two point lead late. SCC had a chance in the final seconds to tie, but couldn’t come away with a basket.

“We had chances,” said St. Charles coach Chris Perrone. “I thought we really rebounded well in stretches, and when we did, that’s when we typically made our moves. When we weren’t, we gave up second shot opportunities, and they were crashing the boards. They took advantage of some lapses when we didn’t maintain our blockouts.”

Perrone said that when St. Charles got into their halfcourt offense, he was pleased with the results — SCC’s mistakes came more in the transition phase.

“I thought we were extremely patient, methodical, in running our sets,” he said.

The Comets’ previous game came at home against district-leading Brusly (17-6, 4-0), a contest that St. Charles led by nine entering the fourth quarter, but Brusly dug in its heels defensively and outscored the Comets 21-3 in the final frame to walk away with a 52-43 victory.

“Give (Brusly) credit … they sped us up on offense,” Perrone said. “And that resulted in them getting back into it.

“By the end, we were out of gas. They did a heck of a job changing the tempo to their advantage.”

Demario Jackson led Brusly with 18 points. Jay Christophe added 10.

Williams scored 23 for the Comets. Mike Green and Marcus Hall each scored six.

SCC was slated to face E.D. White on Tueaday to close out the first round of district play.

With the district so balanced — all six teams, including St. Charles, are within the top 29 in power points — Perrone said that he’s stressed to his team that even at 0-4, the Comets are not eliminated from anything.

“Teams are going to lose games,” said Perrone. “This is a district where there are no blowouts and any team can beat another on any night. So it’s doubtful that anyone runs away with it. We need to correct our mistakes. Already, we’ve seen that a play here or there could have turned a few of these games around for us.”