MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / January 18, 2000

EDGARD – West St. John has a number of weapons on offense but it was theRams’ defense that stepped up in its District 9-2A battle with Riverside Friday night.

The Rams held the Rebels without a field goal over the first 7:39 of the game and to two points in the third quarter, pulling away to 75-43 victory. The victory improved West St. John to 8-4 overall and 2-1 indistrict while Riverside fell to 8-9 and 2-2.

West St. John scored 11 straight points to open the game, the last nine onsecond chance points as the Rams dominated the boards. A put back byDonriel Louis and a jumper from the free throw line by Jeremy Lumar made it 6-0 at the 5:37 mark.

The Rams then went to the free throw line as Dwayne Bastain, Marlon Jackson and Louis combined to hit 5-of-10 foul shots to build an 11-0 lead. Joel Levin dropped a pass to John Treas underneath for the Rebels’first points with 21 seconds left.

Threes-pointer by Craig Tearney and Michael Schoen brought the Rebels to within 13-8 early in the second quarter. After a free throw by Tearney, atip-in by Lumar opened a 9-2 run by the Rams. Louis and Amone Lumarscored on put backs, making it 22-11 with 3:03 left.

Tearney scored on a drive down the lane before West St. John went on a 7-2 run to close the half. Carl Gauthier grabbed a steal and found JeremyLumar on the break to start the run. Lumar then hit two free throws andLouis knocked down a jumper to make it 31-15. Treas found Levin inside toclose the deficit to 14 at the half.

West St. John’s transition game took over as the Rams opened the secondhalf with an 8-0 run. Lumar and Louis scored off steals and Louis took apass inside from Brian Lumar to make it a 20-point game. Louis then foundJackson underneath to make it 39-17 with 5:58 left.

Tearney scored on an alley-oop pass from Schoen but West St. John closedout the quarter on a 17-0 run. A 3-pointer from the right side by BrainLumar opened the run. Amone Lumar converted a three-point play off apass from Louis to make it 50-19 with 2:11 left in the quarter. A passfrom Jackson to Amone Lumar inside built the lead to 56-19 at the end of the third quarter.

Damian Melancon banked in a jumper to get the Rebels back on the scoreboard with 7:31 left in the game. A layup by Louis off a rebound byBrian Lumar gave the Rams their biggest lead at 64-23 with five minutes left in the game.

Riverside went on a late 15-2 run to cut the deficit to 27. Scotty Mansonopened the run by driving down the lane. Tearney grabbed another alley-oopby Schoen and Melancon converted a three-point play to make it 70-39.

Jack Harris followed with a jumper and David Cortez hit two free throws to pull the Rebels to 70-43. But West St. John answered with a three-point play by Coy Miller and a layup by Amone Lumar for the final score.

“Overall, I thought we played well tonight,” West St. John coach AntoineEdwards said. “My main concern is that we play well as a team and thelast couple of weeks, we have been doing that. We played well againstPhoenix on the road (Tuesday night). We’re not turning the ball over and Ithought the defense stepped up and played well tonight. It was a totalteam effort.”That was reflected in the scoring as 10 Rams scored and four were in double figures. Louis and Amone Lumar led the way with 17 points apiece.Jackson and Jeremy Lumar each had 12 points.

Riverside was led by Tearney with 11 points. Levin finished with eightpoints and Melancon with seven.

“We got beat on the boards,” Riverside coach John White said. “They’re agood basketball team. We had come turnovers in the first quarter but Idon’t think they would have mattered tonight.”

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