By Michael Kiral / L’Observateur / January 30, 1998

LAPLACE – St. Charles Catholic jumped out to a 24-7 first quarter leadand never looked back in defeating Riverside, 81-56, in the Comets gymTuesday night.

Chris Oney scored a game-high 21 points to lead the Comets’ attack.

Credere Joseph poured in another 20 points, while Courtney Bonura andJohn Price tossed in 12 and 10 points, respectively.

Paul Labiche had 12 points to lead Riverside. Danny Garsee added sevenpoints, with Mike Barraco and David Jackson each contributing six points.

The victory moved the Comets into a second place tie with Ridgewoodwith a 2-1 record in District 9-2A record and a 12-11 record overall.

Riverside fell to 1-2 in district play and 8-11 overall. West St. John tookthe district lead with a 100-83 victory over Ridgewood Tuesday night.

Riverside scored the first two points of the game as Brad Delaneuvilletook the opening tip and passed to Anson Matherne underneath. St. CharlesCatholic then held the Rebels scoreless over the next seven minutes,scoring 16 unanswered points.

Joseph gave the Comets the lead for good by grabbing a steal nearmidcourt and taking it in for a layup while being fouled. Joseph buried thefree throw to complete the three-point play. Bonura took in another stealand Price followed by driving the baseline, giving the Comets a 9-2 leadand forcing Riverside to use a timeout with 4:22 left.

The Comets’ rally continued as Price tossed an alley-oop to Joseph wholaid it in. Nestor then tossed in a 3-pointer and Joseph added a layup,forcing the Rebels to use their second timeout with 1:03 remaining andthe Comets ahead 16-2.

LaBiche broke the scoreless spell for the Rebels by taking a pass fromRene Trosclair inside. But Nestor continued his hot shooting from theoutside, burying consecutive 3-pointers from the right corner to give theComets a 24-7 lead at the end of the first quarter.

St. Charles Catholic continued to build on its lead after Trosclair openedthe scoring in the second quarter. Price had four points and Oney jukedinside as the Comets grabbed a 36-13 lead. The Comets’ defense continuedto hold Riverside in check, limiting the Rebels to four field goals in thequarter. Ricky Munoz buried a 3-pointer from the right corner and Oneyfound Bonura cutting underneath the basket to give the Comets a 47-21lead at the half.

Oney scored St. Charles Catholic’s first seven points of the second half asthe Comets built a 56-23 lead. Price then provided one of the highlights ofthe evening by taking a pass from Joseph along the right sideline andslamming it down. Oney took another assist from Joseph on the rightbaseline to give the Comets their biggest lead of the night at 61-23.

Riverside then made the game interesting by scoring 21 unansweredpoints. George Murla started the rally by grabbing a rebound and findingBarraco cutting underneath the basket. A 3-pointer by Delaneuville and alayup by Labiche cut the St. Charles Catholic lead to 63-32 and forcing theComets to call timeout with 2:33 left.The rally continued after the timeout as Garsee scored twice andTrosclair and Labiche scored on the break to cut the Comets’ lead to 61-44heading into the final quarter.

Riverside closed to within 15 on a drive by Matherne before the Cometscalled a timeout with 6:12 remaining in the contest. St. Charles Catholic then began to pull away again on layupsby Oney and Joseph that started a 16-3 run. Bonura, Munoz, Joseph andMaurice St. Pierre followed with layups to rebuild the lead back to 77-49.”We played good team offense and good team defense tonight,” St. CharlesCatholic coach Philip Cavell said. “We executed very well in the first half.I was pleased with the way everybody played.”

St. Charles Catholic hosts West St. John Tuesday night, while Riverside isalso home against Ecole Classique.

Photo: ST. CHARLES CATHOLIC’S DAVID NESTOR splits two Riverside Rebels with abehind-the-back pass Tuesday night.

Photo by Michael Kiral.

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