By RYAN ARENA

Sports Editor

After a week to regroup after its 44-42 district loss at Lutcher, St. Charles put itself right back into the 9-3A race with authority on Tuesday night.

The Comets outscored District 9-3A rival Brusly 23-8 in the third quarter on its way to a 60-32 victory at St. Charles.

“We really came out and controlled the tempo,” said St. Charles Coach Jonathan Hernandez. “We wanted to have the ball on offense more than they did, and we especially got that done in the third quarter.”

Vincent Rollo scored 22 points and DeMarcus Bernard added 12 to lead the Comets (14-13, 1-1) to victory. Birch Matus added eight.

“Both guys have done a really great job with shot selection,” Hernandez said of Rollo and Bernard, both of whom have been consistent scorers all season. “We don’t force shots, we want to be very patient and get good ones. We work to get them open.

“The good thing for us has been that someone usually steps up besides them to get us 8-10 points, and this time it was Birch Matus.”

St. Charles led 16-10 after a quarter and 24-14 at the half.

But after the Comets turned on the jets in the third quarter, the Panthers (3-17, 0-2) were buried too deep to answer.

Hernandez said that the Comets achieved their goal defensively during the game, never allowing Brusly to make a sustained run in any quarter.

“We defended really well,” Hernandez said. “We never gave up more than 10 in a quarter. That’s our goal. We feel if we can do that, we can win the game.”

Coming off of the win, St. Charles entered what could be a season-defining stretch of games. The Comets faced Port Allen (23-2, 2-0, ranked 2nd in Class 3A poll) on the road on Friday night, and will face Plaquemine (19-8, 1-1, ranked 6th in 3A) at home on Tuesday.

Hernandez says that the Comets will be ready.

“We feel that we played a very tough pre-district schedule,” Hernandez said. “Whether it was a battle or whether we were crushed, we feel like it prepared us more for these games. We feel pretty good with our chances.”