By RYAN ARENA

Sports Editor

On Wednesday and Thursday, St. Charles was faced with its toughest competition of the season to date at the CYO tournament in New Orleans.

The Comets fell to St. Augustine (2-2) on Wednesday, 61-30, and to St. Thomas Aquinas (6-4) on Thursday, 60-36. The games were played as Rummel.

A 12-point halftime deficit to STA on Wednesday ballooned to 26 after St. Charles (4-3) could only muster four points in the third quarter.

“They turned up their defense, and we committed most of our turnovers in that third quarter,” said SCC Coach Chris Perrone.

DeMarcus Bernard scored 14 to lead St. Charles. Taylor Peytavia scored six and Birch Matus added five.

Zay Jackson led St. Thomas Aquinas with 14 points.

Perrone said that while his team matched up physically with the Falcons, it wasn’t enough.

“We boxed out and held our own underneath. We out-rebounded them,” said Perrone, whose Comets held a 25-16 edge on the glass. “But our execution was lacking, and that’s why things turned south a bit.”

The game against St. Augustine followed the same script for St. Charles, right down to a copy of Thursday’s third quarter horror show: St. Augustine outscored St. Charles 22-4 in the third quarter to go ahead 48-20 after leading by 10 at halftime.

“What I’m seeing is we’re not getting to the line, we’re settling for jump shots,” said Perrone. “I do expect things to get better against Shaw on Saturday.”

St. Charles was plagued by turnovers against the Purple Knights. The Comets turned it over 20 times, allowing an athletically gifted St. Augustine team to get out in transition.

Matus led the Comets with 15 points. Bernard chipped in seven.

While Perrone said he felt his team took a step back overall in the first two tourney games, he said the game against the Falcons Thursday was a step up from its performance on Wednesday.

“It was a small step forward (Thursday), so that’s intriguing,” Perrone said. “With our team as young as it is, I wish this tournament would come a month later. But I can’t pay for the kind of experience that the team is getting in these games. It’s a learning process.

“The guys gotta just take it on the chin and learn from it.”

St. Charles plays Shaw today in its third and final tournament game.