By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

RESERVE – For the second time in three years, East St. John can call itself district champion.

The Wildcats did it in style on their home court Friday night, defeating archrival Destrehan, 58-47, in front of a packed house in Reserve to clinch at least a share of the District 6-5A championship.

ESJ entered Tuesday night’s game against Dutchtown one win away from clinching the crown outright. The Wildcats have swept Destrehan, the only team with the ability to tie East St. John.

“The district championship is great,” said Marcus Robinson, who scored 11 points for East St. John. “But our next step is to win state. We want to advance in the playoffs. But it does feel good to be the district champions.”

Said East St. John coach Yussef Jasmine: “It doesn’t get bigger than a championship game between two rivals. The thing that means the most to me is that we came from a place where we were losing games like this early. Now we’re winning games like this.”

Joseph Williams led East St. John (17-12, 8-0) with 17 points.

Much in the same fashion that other district wins have come for the Wildcats, this one was about a fourth quarter in which East St. John entered with a deficit but closed with a vengeance.

East St. John began the final period with a flurry of points, scoring three buckets in the first 1:19 of action. Destrehan led 35-33 before Sean Thomas tied the game with a bucket for ESJ. Elex Carter gave ESJ a 37-35 lead on a put back, then Patrick Washington canned a long jumper from the corner to make it 39-35 with 6:41 left.

Destrehan (19-10, 6-1) turned the ball over at the other end on a charging foul, then Williams came through with a 3-pointer from the wing at the 5:59 mark to make it 42-35 to set his home crowd abuzz.

Greg Johnson finally ended a 9-0 ESJ run to begin the quarter with a bucket for Destrehan, but ESJ scored the next two baskets including a dunk by Carter that reignited the home crowd, making it 46-37 with 4:20 left.

“We were able to spread them out,” said Jasmine. “We were able to get some layups on them by drawing them out.”

Destrehan wasn’t ready to let the district crown slip away just yet, though, embarking on a 9-2 run to cut the lead to 48-46. Kevin Smith hit two free throws, then B.J. Singleton did the same. Williams scored to lift ESJ back to a 48-41 advantage, but Singleton drew another foul and sank two more free throws. Smith scored in transition to cut the deficit to three, then hit one of two free throws to make it 48-46.

But East St. John finished the quarter as strong as it started. Williams made a putback and ESJ made a stop with 1:26 left. Williams drew a foul and added a free throw to make it 51-46. Destrehan cut into the lead on a Sidney LeBoeuf free throw, but it was the last DHS point of the night. ESJ closed the game out at the foul line the rest of the way.

“We started the night out slow,” said Robinson. “There was a lot of pressure on us to start the fourth quarter. The big crowd … we had to pick ourselves up. We had to step up and make shots.”

Destrehan led 15-12 after the first quarter and 25-22 at halftime.