By RYAN ARENA
Sports Editor

St. Charles erased an 11-point halftime deficit at Warren Easton to force overtime, but ultimately fell short in a 52-49 non-district loss.

“I have to say, my guys did a really good job fighting back into it,” said St. Charles Coach Chris Perrone. “It took the entire second half to get even with them, and we kept pushing. I can’t knock their effort.”

St. Charles (7-10) led by two late in the fourth quarter, but the Comets fouled an Easton player who was shooting a 3-pointer. The Eagles (6-15) made two-of-three foul shots to force overtime.

“To come back so far and give it up on a mistake like that, I think it was deflating for us,” said Perrone.

In overtime, Easton outscored St. Charles 10-7, thanks in part to a pair of SCC turnovers and an advantage at the foul line – the Eagles made seven-of-eight free throws, while the Comets made only three-of-six.

“That’s what it really came down to for us. It was the difference at the end,” Perrone said.

Easton’s Elijah Ijeh did the rest. He scored seven of his game-high 25 points in the overtime period.

DeMarcus Bernard scored 20 points to lead the Comets. Birch Matus scored 13. Gage Corchiani added 11.

The Eagles’ Lionel Causey pushed Warren

Easton ahead early on. Causey scored 12 of his 14 points in the first half, helping the Eagles to a 27-16 halftime advantage.

“He hurt us in the beginning,” Perrone said. “After that, we did a better job at challenging his shots. But then (Ijeh) stepped his game up.”

St. Charles turned to a trapping, “run and jump” defense in both full court and half court sets to successfully force some turnovers, igniting a push to get back into the game.

“We pushed the game tempo, and it definitely made a difference. But they made some shots. Having both of those guys to compliment one another was a big plus for them,” said Perrone.

SCC SPLITS TWO AT SHAW TOURNAMENT: The Comets captured a victory over Carver at last weekend’s Shaw tournament, but fell short against a local foe in Hahnville.

Bernard led the Comets with 12 points and Matus added eight in a 34-24 victory over Carver last Saturday.

SCC trailed 16-12 at the half, but outscored Carver 14-4 in the third quarter to take control.

Hahnville (11-4) defeated St. Charles 53-39 last Friday. Final statistics were not available.