By JOHNNY PEPPO

Sports Editor

The local prep basketball season got underway this week with teams across the parish defending their home courts.

Reserve Christian started things off first in their first season in the post-Tweety Carter era. With his graduation, and the transfer of last season’s second leading scorer Kevin Branch, the Eagles will be looking to junior forward Eddren McCain to spark the squad. RCS took a win in their first home game of the year by a score of 94-59 over Louisiana New School last week.

East St. John looks to be a leading contender for a district title this season, despite the Wildcats loss of three starting seniors from last year’s team that reached the quarter-finals in last year’s playoffs before falling to Hahnville. Returning starters Trenton Marshall, a junior, and Jamaan Kenner, a senior, will likely be the go-to guys.

For district 2A play, Riverside and St. Charles will be fielding squads looking to take a lead in the competetive 10-2A district. The Rebels starting line-up is still young with four juniors and a senior, but looks to be a quick team which will be led by all-everything athlete Jarid Caesar and the two seniors David Serven and Bart Roussel.

The Comets meanwhile, will be standing tall with three starters over 6’3” and three seniors at each tip-off. Chase Fletcher, Chris Costanza and Jonathan Bonura are the seniors and will likely be leading the team.

For the girls side, East St. John and Hahnville look to be the top two in the running for the 5-5A district title. Last season, the Lady Tigers made it to the quarter-finals while the LadyCats suffered from a loss in the bi-district round after several players were ruled academically ineligible. This year, ESJ has three senior starters but is thin in depth with only three players on the bench.