By RYAN ARENA

Sports Editor

After a lopsided loss to White Castle last Friday, West St. John was out to prove its victory last week over highly touted East Iberville was no fluke.

So all the Rams did was follow up a loss with a victory over another ranked team.

This time, Blake Comminie’s layup at the end of regulation broke a tie and held off a furious Plaquemine comeback, boosting the host Rams to a 52-50 victory in a non-district game on Tuesday.

Plaquemine (19-8, 1-1), ranked No. 6 in the latest LSWA poll in Class 3A, trailed by eight with three minutes left.

But the Green Devils forced West St. John (8-9, 1-1) into mistakes and turnovers, and forced a tie with 1:30 left in regulation.

With 11 seconds left, the Rams made a stop and called a timeout. On the inbounds play, the Rams got the ball to Comminie in the backcourt, and he drove and finished at the rim to secure the victory.

“We led throughout, but everything started to change for us with about three and a half minutes left,” said West St. John Coach Antoine Edwards. “We started turning it over too much. At the end, we made the stop when we had to, got a key rebound, and Blake hit a big shot.”

Comminie led the Rams with 14 points. Raynard Thomas and Dray Joseph each scored 13. Alton Joseph added six.

Edwards said that the Rams had had a great deal of success throughout most of the game with a zone defense, but switched out of it for the final 90 seconds.

“We didn’t want to give up the 3-pointer with the score tied like it was,” Edwards said. “We didn’t want to have to score double. We played very good defense throughout the game, though.”

Deryl Lewis scored 16 to lead Plaquemine.

(See RAMS, Page 12A)

West St. John led 29-23 at halftime and 42-39 after three quarters.

The Green Devils had won six straight before consecutive losses to district rival Port Allen and now West St. John.

The Rams have now won three of their last four games, two coming against ranked opponents and all against teams with winning records.

“It tells me that when we approach a game mentally prepared, we can compete with anybody out there,” said Edwards.