By RYAN ARENA

Sports Editor

East St. John scored perhaps its biggest win to date this season on Friday night as it went on the road to topple Dutchtown, 62-43, in a District 6-5A game in Geismar.

It came only three days after the Griffins (13-9, 1-1) defeated defending district champion East Ascension (24-3, 1-1) on the same floor. For the time being, it leaves the Wildcats (12-12, 2-0) alone in first place as 6-5A’s only remaining undefeated team.

“We had a game plan, and we stuck to it,” said East St. John coach Yussef Jasmine. “We wanted to take certain guys out of the game defensively, and I felt like we did that.”

Dutchtown had two players reach double figures, led by Scott Burgess’ 13.

Malcom Lago scored 16 to lead four Wildcats in double figures. Lucas Martin scored 11, while Kelth Cameron and Kaylon Placide each added 10.

ESJ led 30-22 at halftime, but Dutchtown rallied in the third quarter to take a one point lead after a 6-0 run.

But after a the Wildcats took a timeout, it was all Wildcats. ESJ responded to reestablish 41-36 lead entering the fourth quarter, and outscored Dutchtown 21-7 in the final period.

“You can see the growth of this team. At times in the past, we’d give up the lead and guys would hang their heads,” said Jasmine. “Here, they pulled together.”

The fourth quarter was the second of the game that the Griffins failed to score in double figures, after a seven point effort in the second.

“After we took the lead again, the guys raised their defensive intensity to a whole other level,” said Jasmine.

Offensively, East St. John turned the ball over only three times in the second half, and found ways to break down the Griffin zone to get the ball inside.

The Wildcats have now won seven of their last 10 games.

“I’ve been telling my kids all year, they’ve got the potential to win district, and go far in the playoffs,” said Jasmine. “Everyone is filling their role. Kelth’s is to defend and rebound. Malcom’s is to dictate the tempo. And we’ve got a lot of guys stepping up to handle the ball, which allows him to not always have to be the primary ball handler, like other teams are expecting him to be.”