LAPLACE — St. Charles Catholic coach Kemper Todd said he knew the moment the basketball left Jordan Arceneaux’s hands it was going in.

After leading Runnels nearly all game, the Comets watched in dismay as the Raiders rallied to tie the score with about 25 seconds remaining.

Then Arceneaux, the 6-foot-1, 205-pound senior guard got the ball.

Todd said he could have gone to the rim, but Runnels cut him off. So Arceneaux looked at his coach, who just said, “Go.”

“He read that and put in an old school — which is not done much— a 2-point shot, a 12-footer,” Todd said of the 40-38 win on Dec. 15.

“He got up over the defense and knocked it down and he knew it was going in the whole way. You could tell by his body language. And the neat part about it is, his teammates knew as well.”

It’s plays like that which have the Comets working to step up their game this season.

It’s no secret St. Charles is an underdog in a top heavy district that includes perennial powerhouses Riverside Academy and Country Day.

With four senior starters and a bunch of underclassmen, it’s all about preparation right now.

That’s why Todd has scheduled such teams as Rummel and Jesuit, why his team took on three Class 6A teams during tournament play in Alabama.

“We’ve stepped up the level of competition because I felt like we got a lot of young kids and they are learning how to play,” Todd said.

“I wanted to play competition where we can learn stuff, so we’ve played Jesuit, Curtis, Rummel, Episcopal. We’ve just been playing good basketball teams, and we’ve won about the same (amount) as we won last year.”

Heading into this week, the Comets were 7-10.

They open District 12-2A play with the  first match up against crosstown rival Riverside Academy on Jan. 13 in the Comets’ gym.

Todd hopes his team will be more prepared.

“I feel like we’ve taken a step forward and improved a great deal with the same record,” Todd said. “So I feel like that was our goal, to learn from our competition.”

Arceneaux said the stiffer competition has helped him.

“I like playing good teams,” he said.

“It’s not fun to me when you’re blowing people out. I’d rather be neck to neck with somebody.”

A basketball-only athlete at a school noted for its multi-sport players, Arceneaux is concentrating on getting better. After all he is the go-to guy.

“I can tell you that Jordan has stepped up his game, but more importantly, from a coach’s standpoint, he has stepped up his attitude,” Todd said.

“His leadership, his effort in practice makes everybody better. I was showing the team through Jordan the other day, here’s a guy who’s scoring close to 25 points, and he’s out there at practice dripping wet every day. If others learn to play like that every day, that’s what you want.”

Arceneaux said his team is improving daily.

“I feel like we’re accepting the system more,” he said. “(We’re) young, gaining experience every day. Tough. We just go out and give everything we got every day.

“Last year, not everybody was buying into the system Coach Todd was teaching. Now everybody’s buying in. It’s helping take my game to the next level.”

It’s also giving Arceneaux game-winning opportunities he will never forget.

“It felt good because all that hard work we put in the whole game it would have sucked to not get it after we worked so hard to get there,” Arceneaux said. “I had to step up for my team.”