By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

GONZALES – West St. John bounced back from a heartbreaking loss last Tuesday to nail down a convincing District 8-1A victory over Ascension Christian on Friday night, 51-30.

Dray Joseph scored 19 to lead the Rams (8-11, 4-3), who are vying to break into the top three slots in the district standings. Christian Life, White Castle, and East Iberville currently hold those positions, the latter after defeating West St. John by one earlier in the week (see game summary at end of article).

While Joseph was a big key, though, defense was the story for the Rams. West St. John held Ascension Christian to seven first half points in jumping out to a 27-7 halftime lead. WSJ remained in control from there.

“We got going early and made it our game,” said West St. John coach Antoine Edwards. “We shot the ball pretty well and moved it around. Defensively, leading 27-7 after a half, we obviously got it done.”

Joseph, the Rams’ senior point guard, got rolling by making things happen in the lane.

“He did a real good job penetrating to the basket, scoring on layups and short jumpers,” said Edwards.

Daylon Feist scored nine for West St. John. Steven Brignac added eight.

EAST IBERVILLE 48, WEST ST. JOHN 47 – East Iberville spoiled a chance for West St. John to make a move up the District 8-1A standings, converting two foul shots with four seconds left to defeat the Rams 48-47 last Tuesday night.

Sheldon Ballom scored 18 to lead East Iberville. Donovan Richardson added 14.

The Rams took a 47-46 lead with 10 seconds to go on Denzel Pierre’s two free-throws. But East Iberville drew a foul on its ensuing possession and converted its chance to regain the lead.

West St. John coach Antoine Edwards felt point guard Dray Joseph was fouled on his team’s final possession, but chalked it up to a judgment call.

“Unfortunately, things didn’t bounce our way,” said Edwards.

Joseph scored a team-high 11 points. Pierre finished with 11. Daylon Feist added nine.

East Iberville led 28-21 at halftime, and began the game with a 9-0 aided by a hot start from the perimeter.

“We gave up a bunch of threes,” said Edwards. “We didn’t step up to the plate at the defensive end in the first half.”

Things changed after halftime though, as Edwards’ team cranked up the intensity and played “hard-nosed basketball” as he’d later describe.

In the fourth quarter, WSJ held East Iberville to 10 points and got back into the game, largely helped by the aggressive play of Pierre, who got to the foul line at key times.

“Denzel really made a push at the end,” said Edwards. “He came up in some big spots. As a team we really shot better in the second half at the line, and that was a big thing for us.”