By JOHNNY PEPPO

Sports Editor

HAHNVILLE – In the quest for their first district title, East St. John’s boys basketball team still has a ways to go. But with a 77-60 district win over Hahnville last Friday night, the Wildcats got one step closer as they moved to 3-1 in 5-5A play with four games left before the post-season begins.

Destrehan’s 72-62 win over Ehret ties ESJ and DHS for the district lead.

&#8220It’s never easy to come in and beat a team on their home court,” said ESJ coach Charles Julien. &#8220You can’t take any of these games for granted, so we weren’t looking past them. But if we can continue to play our type of basketball, we should have a shot against anybody.”

ESJ jumped out on top early in their match-up Friday night against Hahnville, taking a 20-10 lead through the first quarter. The Tigers warmed up for the second period, more than doubling their output from the first eight minutes with 21 before halftime. But HHS was unable to slow down East St. John’s productivity as the Wildcats were led by Trenton Marshall and his game high 21 points.

After the break, ESJ was effective on both sides of the court, holding Hahnville to ten points in the quarter while posting 25 themselves. And with a 61-45 lead, the Wildcats slowed things down and took a 77-60 final.

Marshall was joined in double digits for ESJ by Brandon Neal and Miguel Singleton who each scored 16. Jared Steib and Laron Byrd led HHS with 14 and 11 respectively.

The early game between the LadyCats and the Lady Tigers was tough for ESJ offensively as Hahnville took a 47-32 win, ESJ’s first loss in district this season. Michelle Thomas scored a game high 15 points in the effort, but HHS employed a balanced attack with Nadia Cox and Kyla Thomas each getting nine, while Latrice Samuel and Chey Hills each got eight.

The LadyCats stand at 6-1 in 5-5A while the Lady Tigers move to 4-1.