By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

EDGARD – Ascension Catholic’s Myron Dominique got hot and all but carried his Bulldogs into a fourth quarter tie with host West St. John after falling behind them by double figures.

But the Rams didn’t panic.

West St. John would never relinquish the lead and closed the game out in impressive fashion, breaking a 44-44 tie and ending things on a 20-3 run in the final five minutes of play to capture a 64-47 District 8-1A victory.

“Our guys did a heck of a job to hang in there,” said West St. John coach Antoine Edwards. “At the points where we had to step up, we responded to the challenge.”

West St. John moved to 6-11 overall with the win, 3-2 in district play. The Rams are tied with East Iberville for third in 8-1A, behind Christian Life (5-0) and White Castle (4-1).

A pair of Lawrence Williams free throws pushed West St. John into a 36-26 lead in the third quarter before Dominique went to work. Dominique hit a pair of three throws, then scored off of a steal to cut the lead to six.

Austin Terry answered with a bucket at the other end for WSJ, but Dominique made it 38-33 after he canned a 3 from the top of the key.

“I thought we had some mental breakdowns, and he got loose,” said West St. John coach Antoine Edwards. “They came up with a couple steals when we didn’t protect the ball like we needed to.”

The Rams entered the fourth quarter ahead 42-35 but had to endure another Dominique surge — again, he hit a pair of three throws and followed with a 3 from up top, making it 42-40.

JuJuan Green hit a jumper to push WSJ to a four point advantage. Kolby Martinez answered for ACHS (3-20, 1-4) and finally Dominique scored on a driving layup to tie the game.

“We called a couple of time outs to settle ourselves,” said Edwards. “We said if we wanted to win this, we had to keep our composure and some guys would have to step up.”

But from there, it was all about the Rams. Green put his team back ahead with a bucket. Steven Brignac scored, then Denzel Pierre got a steal and a basket to make it 50-44. At this point, Bulldogs starting center Miles Haydel fouled out and the Rams made the Bulldogs pay. Brignac scored again inside to make it 52-44. Green scored on a putback to make it a 10-point Rams lead again with 2:50 left. WSJ immediately got a steal and after running some time off, Adams scored again to make it a 12-point game.

“You don’t quit playing once they come back. You just keep playing hard,” said Green.

“Every time we got the ball on defense, we hit our wings and pushed it up the court.”

The Rams’ run continued to 20-1 before Ascension Catholic finally scored again.