By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

RESERVE — A poor shooting night doomed East St. John on Tuesday as McDonogh #35 bested the Wildcats 55-33 at ESJ.

Wanisha Creecy led East St. John with 15.

East St. John coach Jackson Manuel credited the Roneagles for their play, but believed that his team was its own worst enemy on a night where it shots 27-percent from the field.

Worse was the 14-percent rate the Ladycats (6-7) hit on layups around the basket, a number that disturbed Manuel more than any.

“We missed 30 layups, and on top of that turned it over 20 times,” said Manuel. “That’s way too many turnovers when you shoot as poorly as we did.”

McDonogh #35 steadily built its lead up, leading 13-7 after the first quarter then doubling its advantage to 26-14 at halftime.

The Roneagles went ahead by 18 in the second half, but a ESJ push keyed by its defense cut the Wildcats’ deficit to 10.

But ESJ couldn’t push closer.

“We forced 30 turnovers on the positive side, and that got us back into the game,” Manuel said. “But a lot of times we turned it right back over and got nothing out of our good plays.

“I felt like four turnovers were truly forced. The others were travels, bad passes, self-inflicted wounds.”

ESJ played the game short-handed as well – the Wildcats were missing two starters on Tuesday.

“We weren’t at 100-percent. But I don’t believe we were 22 points worse than them by any stretch, even shorthanded. We hurt ourselves far too much.”