Wildcats put both ends together in 61-51 win

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, January 12, 2000

MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / January 12, 2000

DESTREHAN – East St. John overcame early shooting woes for a 61-51District 7-5A victory at Destrehan Friday night.

The win improved East St. John to 11-7 overall and 1-1 in district.Destrehan fell to 6-11 overall and 0-2 in district play.

East St. John was held scoreless for the first 5:39 of the game and did notget its first field goal until the 1:25 mark of the first quarter. ButDestrehan could not take advantage, getting only baskets by Scott Simon and Travis Green off passes by Jeremy Parquet during that time.

Micheal Brown hit the second of two free throws to give East St. John itsfirst point at the 2:21 mark. After two free throws by Rynelle Joseph andone by Green, Darwin Pittman gave East St. John the lead for good on athree-point play off a put back. Pittman scored off another rebound tomake it 8-5 at the end of the first quarter.

Destrehan got back on the scoreboard on a jumper by Green with 7:30 left in the half. East St. John countered with an 8-1 run behind jumpers byPittman and Lawrence Taylor to build the lead to 16-8. After Destrehanpulled to within five on a 3-pointer from the left wing by Mark Stewart, Pittman knocked down a jumper and Taylor scored on a break after a rebound by Sam Martin to make it 20-11 with 2:24 left.

A 3-pointer from the right wing by Wayne Mendoza made it 23-13 before Destrehan came back with a jumper by Stewart and a drive by Simon to make it 25-17 at the half.

East St. John built a 35-24 lead early in third quarter as Louis Gardner andMartin took steals in. Destrehan again rallied as Parquet tapped a pass toSimon for a 3-pointer from the right corner. After a jumper from the freethrow line by Lawrence Johnson, Simon hit two free throws and then took a steal in to make it 37-32 with 1:25 left in the third.

East St. John again answered as Floyd Smith leaned in for a jumper.Pittman added a jumper and two free throws and Graylin Mitchell tapped in a put back in the final seconds to make it 45-36 heading into the final quarter.

Destrehan pulled to within six on its first possession of the fourth quarter on a three-point play by Stewart. A layup by Taylor off a steal byMartin pushed the lead back to 50-41 with five minutes remaining.

Green scored off a pass by Parquet to bring Destrehan within seven with 2:15 left but East St. John came back with a pass from Gardner to Pittmaninside. Gardner then took a pass from Martin off a steal and drove in fromthe left side to make it 56-45 with 1:32 left in the game.

Pittman finished with a game-high 19 points for East St. John. Martin,Mendoza, Taylor, Smith, Brown and Johnson all finished with six points.

“We’ve played great defense all year but tonight we were able to get both ends together,” East St. John coach James Smith said. “We played withconfidence tonight. We played good team basketball. We weren’t selfish.We were patient, accepted what they gave us and were able to make something happen.”Stewart led Destrehan with 16 points. Simon and Green each chipped inwith 11. The Wildcats scored 34 points in the second half after being heldto 17 in the first two quarters.

“It’s been the same the last two games,” Destrehan coach Mike McNamara said. “We can’t score and when you can’t score, you can’t win. When youhold East St. John in the 20’s in the first half, you have a chance to winbut we didn’t get our shots down. We had our chances but when your bestplayers get good looks and can’t get the shots to fall in, you know you are in trouble.”

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