By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

RESERVE – East St. John coach Yussef Jasmine received some great news Tuesday morning, and got to relay a very uplifting message to his team – after weeks of chemotherapy threatment, Jasmine was declared completely cancer free.

Nobody but his players know if their performance later that night was inspired by the news. It sure seemed that way, though.

East St. John rallied from a 16-point second half deficit to pull in a double digit victory over district rival Destrehan, 67-57.

“To me, it’s a lot like what I went through,” said Jasmine. “For awhile, it looked like we were finished. We looked defeated. But it’s about not being defeated, and these kids wouldn’t have it.”

The win lifts ESJ into first place in District 6-5A, breaking a tie with Destrehan through three district games.

Jasmine missed five weeks of this season undergoing treatment after learning of his condition during the summer.

“My kids were disappointed when I told them. But I knew this day would come,” Jasmine said.

Jasmine returned right before the beginning of distrist play, and his team has responded.

ESJ’s Kaylon Placide scored 20 to lead all scorers. Kalen Henderson scored 14 and Patrick Gales added nine.

Destrehan’s hot shooting in the first half led to a 40-28 halftime lead. And early in the third quarter, Destrehan poured it on, running its lead up to 16.

But the hosts weren’t quite finished.

D’haquille Williams scored a layup while LeBaron Sylvester and Placide hit back-to-back 3-pointers to cut the DHS lead to 10.

Then Williams took a hard spill and was down for several minutes. But he would shake off the pain, and his animated reaction once rising to his feet seemed to inspire the rest of his team.

A putback by Henderson made it 51-43. Four quick points by DHS’ B.J. Singleton pushed their lead back to 55-43, and Destrehan maintained a 12-point lead entering the fourth quarter.

But from there, the night belonged to East St. John. A Williams putback made it 60-51. Gales scored inside off a pretty feed from Sean Thomas to make it a seven-point game. When Placide drove, scored, and drew a foul for a three-point play, ESJ’s crowd was whipped into a frenzy.

So was its pressing defense that refused to relent in the final period.

“We can play like that because we can play 14 guys like we did tonight,” Jasmine said. “And not just bodies. All of these guys are producing once they get in. We’ve got a real deep team.”

Compounding the issues Destrehan faced there was its inability to convert free throws – DHS shot 3-for-11 at the foul line in the fourth quarter, including missing the front end of three one-and-one’s.

ESJ took advantage of the drought. Gales scored again to make it 62-58.

Placide again drove for a bucket and a foul, and his foul shot made it 62-61.

“I realized my shot wasn’t falling, so we had to go inside,” said Placide, normally known for his strong outside shooting. “We knew what we had to do to get the win.”

With 4:16 left to play, Williams gave ESJ its first lead since early in the second quarter with a bucket inside. His midcourt steal set up Henderson basket to put ESJ ahead by three, and a later Henderson bucket made it 68-63.

Out of a timeout, the Wildcats dialed up a lobpass for Thomas underneath the goal, and he laid the ball in to make it 70-63 with 2:25 left. DHS had no response from there.

Destrehan built its lead in the second quarter in large part due to the hot shooting of Ryan Derbes who hit all six of his 3-point attempts in the first half. But Derbes was held scoreless after halftime.

Akeem Sumlin scored 19 to lead Destrehan. Derbes scored 18 and B.J. Singleton added 14.