MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / March 15, 2000

LAFAYETTE – A number of the members of the West St. John basketballteam started their high school careers with a championship.

Friday night, they have a chance to finish them the same way.

West St. John became the first River Parishes school to advance to thefinals of the Top 28 Tournament with a 78-68 overtime victory over McCall Monday night in the Class 2A semifinals in the Cajun Dome.

The Rams (26-4) will play Coushatta (26-11) Friday at 8:30 p.m. Coushattarallied from an 14-point deficit to defeat Springfield, 70-66, in the first semifinal game Monday.

West St. John never trailed in the overtime period as Marlon Jackson hit ajumper in the lane on the Rams’ first possession. Donriel Louis followedwith a put back and Brian Lumar scored off a block by Dwayne Bastain, giving the Rams a 70-64 lead with 2:28 left.

McCall could not get any closer than four the rest of the way, pulling to within 72-68 on a put back by Byron Williams with 1:24 left. Louis hit twofree throws and Jackson and Lumar one apiece in the final minute. Louiscapped off the scoring with a one-handed dunk in the final seconds.

West St. John had a chance to win the game in regulation. With eightseconds left, Jackson grabbed a rebound and found Lumar downcourt. Lumarwent in for the layup but had it spin out as the buzzer sounded.

But it was Lumar who had gotten West St. John tied in the final minute.His 3-pointer from the right corner brought the Rams to within 64-62 with 1:02 left. After the teams exchanged turnovers and Henry Guy missedthe front end of a one-and-one, Lumar drove along the right baseline to tie the score at 64 with 20 seconds left.

“Down the stretch we fought back hard,” West St. John coach AntoineEdwards said. “We went into overtime pretty confident we had a chance towin it. Our defensive aggressiveness started to pick up and that got us toa point where we could run our whole offense and score offensively.” McCall led 52-44 at the end of the third quarter and took a 58-48 lead on two free throws by Guy with 5:23 left. West St. John answered with a 6-0run, starting with Jackson grabbing a rebound near the free throw line and driving down the lane. Louis and Lumar then scored off steals by AmoneLumar and Jeremy Lumar, respectively, bringing the Rams to within 60-56 with 4:08 remaining.

A layup by Brian Lumar off a steal by Jeremy Lumar brought the Rams to within three. McCall answered with a spinning layup to take a 64-59 withthree minutes left. That would be the Dragons’ last points in regulation asthey turned the ball over three times and missed the front ends of two one-and-ones.

Louis led all scorers with 23 points and had a game-high nine rebounds.

Jackson had 20 points and seven rebounds. Brian Lumar contributed 19points and three steals. Jeremy Lumar had a game-high four steals to gowith 14 points.

Those four, along with Bastain, Carl Gauthier and Tremaine Nathan, were on the St. John Warriors Pre-Prep team that won the national title in1997.

McCall (35-8) was led by Donald Perry with 20 points and eight rebounds.

Guy had 16 points while Williams had 12 points and eight rebounds.

West St. John trailed 33-30 at halftime but opened the second half on a 7-0 run. Brian Lumar tied the score with a 3-pointer from the right cornerand put the Rams ahead by scoring off a steal by Jeremy Lumar. McCallanswered with a run of its own, regaining the lead at 40-39 on a 3-pointer by Perry with 4:42 left. That lead grew to eight by the end of the quarterbehind 3-pointers by Perry and Guy.

West St. John jumped out to a 9-2 lead to open the game. Jeremy Lumaropened the scoring with a 3-pointer from the top of the key and Louis and Jackson scored inside.

McCall rallied to take a 17-15 lead at the end of the quarter on a put back and two free throws by Williams.

“I was amazed about the gym, how big it was,” Jackson said of his first reaction to walking into the Cajun Dome. “We were a little nervous butafter the first shot, the nerves were over.”West St. John went back ahead, 20-19, on Jeremy Lumar’s 3-pointer fromthe top of the key with 6:52 left in the half. McCall surged ahead again,taking a 31-26 lead on a dunk by Williams. Jeremy Lumar drove in to cutthe deficit to three at the half.

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