By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

METAIRIE – St. Charles led by six with 2:30 to go in regulation, but some missed Comet free throws and hot shooting by Grace King led to an Irish rally and ultimately a 58-54 win in overtime.

The Comets held the Irish to just two points in the third quarter, but allowed 22 in the fourth and saw a six-point lead evaporate in the final 2:30 of regulation to force overtime.

St. Charles went 0-4 from the foul line in the final two minutes of regulation.

“It was a combination of poor shot selection, too many missed free throws, especially on the front end of one-and-ones,” said St. Charles coach Chris Perrone. “We didn’t do a great job managing the game. On the flip side, Grace King did a great job executing what they do.

“It was a close game throughout. I’m not sure who let who hang around, there.”

Grace King made consecutive 3’s late in regulation to tie the game.

The Irish outscored SCC 9-5 in overtime.

John Williams led the Comets (10-8) with 23 points. Harley Scioneaux scored 12 and Marcus Hall added five.

Grace King led 25-21 at halftime, but St. Charles rebounded to take a 3-point lead entering the fourth quarter.

“They really outshot us,” said Perrone. “They did a better job behind the arc and they did a better job from the line.”

That dried up in the third quarter though as the Irish could only muster two points to SCC’s nine.

“They went cold and defensively we were limiting them to one shot. We got our bigs some easy buckets on our secondary break. They did a good job of getting on the block early in transition. The biggest difference in the fourth might be that we got away from that. Grace King did a good job taking it away from us.”

Williams scored 26 to lead the Comets in a 53-47 win at home over E.D. White a week prior.

Taylor Peytavin scored 12 and Trent Dunn scored six for St. Charles.

St. Charles will be battle tested heading into district play, which begins Jan. 24. It was scheduled to face a team it could see again in the Class 2A playoffs in Lusher on Friday (after deadline) and on Tuesday, the Comets face Holy Cross (No. 7 in the Class 3A poll).