By RYAN ARENA

L’observateur

St. Charles lost its first two games of last week’s CYO tournament, but rebounded to win the third to move to 4-6 on the season.

SCC defeated Holy Cross 57-52, after falling to Karr (69-46) and Country Day (65-44) late last week in consecutive games.

“I thought we were mentally tough, and also physically tough through the tournament,” said SCC coach Chris Perrone. “That’s something we’ve harped on. We had a seven man rotation, and I think those teams knew it. They were pressing us, trying to wear us down. Our guys fought through it.”

The defending Class 1A champion Cajuns drew St. Charles in the first round, and Country Day emerged the winner behind LSU commitment Matt Derenbecker, who hit five 3-pointers including three in the second quarter.

“It doesn’t hurt to have a 6-7 Division I signee,” said Perrone. “He got loose, and it was really the difference. Not only is he a good shooter and their go-to scorer, but he’s also a fine passer. And at 6-7, you know he can see the floor.”

Country Day led 16-4 after a quarter and 36-13 at halftime.

Birch Matus led SCC with 14 points. Taylor Peytavin added 13, and John Williams, Jr. scored nine.

St. Charles led Karr after the first quarter of their game, 12-0. But the Cougars ran out to a 31-18 halftime lead, then effectively finished the Comets off with a 20-5 third quarter advantage that made it 51-23.

SCC turned it over 27 times in the game — a lethal number, said Perrone.

“Turnovers killed us. We had double-digit turnovers in one quarter, and you can’t afford it,” said Perrone. “They did a god job defensively, and to compound that they had a 6-8 big man off the bench who effectively shut down the lane. It made things difficult.”

Peytavin led the way with 16 points for SCC. Williams, Jr. scored 15 and Jesse Coleman scored nine.

Those turnover issues vanished against Holy Cross. Although the Tigers pressed from the second quarter on, SCC turned it over only seven times. The Comets also shot 76-percent from the line.

It added up to a close win.

“Holy Cross is a good team, and we needed to limit turnovers and hit our free throws like we did. Obviously, it was all important given the score,” said Perrone.

Matus scored 23 to lead the Comets. Skii Dyer scored 14 and Peytavin scored eight.