By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

St. Charles captured its seventh win of the season last week but came up against a couple of bumps in the road as well.

The Comets defeated Riverdale at the Grace King tournament last week, 64-56, but fell in a heartbreaker to De La Salle, 64-63.

On the latter, heartbreaker may put it mildly.

SCC (7-4) led by 12 with just over a minute left. But a rash of turnovers led to a furious Cavalier comeback that still looked like it would come up short with SCC leading by two, ready to shoot the back end of two free throws.

But a miss led to a long rebound, which a De La Salle player corralled in and heaved from three-quarters court; amazingly, the ball swished through, not even banking off the backboard, and securing a more-than-improbable comeback victory for De La Salle.

“We didn’t handle the pressure, and you have to credit them. We shouldn’t have been in position for that shot to mean anything at all,” said St. Charles coach Chris Perrone. “It was a matter of us not getting rebounds and turning the ball over.

“That said … whenever I see highlights now of players hitting those kinds of shots on TV and winning, I’ll feel for that other coach. Because I know how terrible it feels now. It was unbelievable.”

Mike Green scored 20 to lead the Comets against De La Salle. John Williams scored 18 and Trent Dunn scored 14.

Williams led SCC against Riverdale, scoring 21 points. Green scored 16 and Dunn added 11.

“We played well enough to not lose,” said Perrone. “We didn’t play particularly well, but I wouldn’t say we played badly. We played well enough to hold on. Too many turnovers … but ultimately we did what we do. We got out in transition and got some easy ones to spur us.”

SCC finished its week Friday night against Hahnville, in a game the Tigers were hot from start to finish. HHS took a *** win in a game that the Tigers hit seven 3-pointers in the first quarter.

Trevonnd Hutchenson hit four 3 pointers and led HHS with 15. Williams led SCC with eight.

“That put us behind, and they play the type of defense that really puts you in a bind if you have to claw back,” said Perrone. “Even if you make a run, their defense can generate one of their own just as easily.

“After the De La Salle loss, I think we lacked energy. It took a lot out of us. Hahnville’s a very difficult opponent anyway. We’ve got them again Tuesday (yesterday, after press time) and hopefully they won’t be quite as hot from the outside.”