By RYAN ARENA

Sports Editor

While Reserve Christian hasn’t lost a district game in almost a decade, host Phoenix was working hard to make the Eagles’ next one a reality on Monday night. Locked in a nip and tuck affair, neither side was sweating the pressure.

On the contrary, the gym floor “sweat” enough for both.

Moisture on the floor caused the game between the teams to be suspended until Wednesday, where the teams were locked in a nail biter until the fourth quarter. There, the Eagles spread their wings, outscoring Phoenix 23-13 to notch a 69-57 win.

Eddren McCain scored 15 points and logged 16 assists to lead Reserve (32-8, 5-0) to victory.

“Eddren really took over in the fourth quarter,” said Reserve Coach Timmy Byrd. “It wasn’t so much by scoring, but by finding our guys for layups and open shots.”

As usual this year, McCain was not short on options within the Eagle offense. Cedric Jenkins scored 14 and added nine rebounds. Chris Roussell added 13 and Lucas Martin scored 10.

Matt Cali and Kyle McClue each added eight, helping to defeat a Phoenix (17-11, 3-1) team that surely earned some respect with its effort against the defending Class C champions.

“Phoenix has a big, athletic team,” said Byrd. “They’ve got a nice club. They should make a strong run for the Cajun Dome.

“That was a game we could have easily lost. If Eddren didn’t take over like he did in the fourth, we would have struggled to win.”

The two teams were tied after a quarter at 17. Reserve took a 35-32 lead at halftime, but Phoenix cut that lead to two entering the fourth.

“We didn’t hit shots in the first half,” Byrd said. “They did a good job keeping us from getting up and down the court.”

That was until the fourth quarter, where the Eagles scored a game high 23 points.

Last Friday night, Reserve took early control in a 66-49 victory at home over Northlake Christian.

Jenkins scored 26 and McCain scored 20 to lead the way for the Eagles.

Bazzeu Taylor scored 16 to lead Northlake (14-11, 6-5). Jason O’Rear added 14.

Reserve outscored Northlake 20-9 in the first quarter and led 37-24 at halftime.

The Eagles weren’t seriously threatened from there, although Northlake was able to hang around.

“Cedric and Eddren came out hot early. In the second half, we got sloppy,” said Byrd. “This team has a tendency to get up big then lose focus at times.”

Lucas Martin added 10 points for the Eagles.