Lago and Young combine for 42 in victory over Lutcher

BY DAVID FOLSE II

Sports Editor

Players can be great, but teams win championships.

East St. John’s boys are getting the message.

Thanks to a solid team effort, the Wildcats (20-7 5-2) defeated Lutcher on Friday 89-67.

Willie Lago led ESJ with 22 points. Cazaro Young added 20 and Vincent Stewart had 10 in the Wildcat victory.

“It was a good win,” ESJ head coach Charles Julian said. “It was an up-tempo game, which was a benefit to us. We held their leading scorer to only eight points in the first half. We pressed them and forced them into a lot of turnovers. We really just jumped on them and never looked back.”

Playing without one of their top players in Ryan Perrilloux, Julian said the balance that his team showed against Lutcher will have to continue even when Perrilloux returns.

“The main point is that we are playing together as a team,” Julian said. “When Ryan is not there, we have the depth so we do not miss him that much. Everyone can contribute on this team.

“There is not a falloff when we go to our bench because of the quality of people that we have that come into the ballgame. Playing in one of the top districts in the state with so many well-balanced teams, a district champ or runner-up could finish with four losses in district play. We just have to fight all season long and if we do that we’ll be where we want to be.”