By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

West St. John stood at the brink of elimination at the hands of Ascension Catholic Tuesday, but the Rams rallied to capture a 71-63 win on the road to stay alive in the Class 1A playoff chase.

The Rams sat at 33 in the Class 1A power rankings, just on the outskirts of a potential wildcard berth. It likely needed a win over No. 6 East Iberville Friday (after presstime – details will be in the next edition).

The Bulldogs (5-24, 3-8) led by as many as 12 in the fourth quarter. But West St. John (8-18, 6-5) rallied to the tune of a 26-9 scoring margin in the fourth to capture the victory.

“I thought our defensive play was key,” said West St. John coach Antoine Edwards. “We got some easy baskets and hit some big shots, but our defense was the big factor. What I was most pleased about was that we were able to play that kind of defense with a lot of our kids battling foul trouble.”

Jalen Adams scored 21 to lead all scorers. JuJuan Green scored 16, Steven Brignac added 12 and Denzel Pierre scored eight.

“Jalen’s been real strong for us,” said Edwards. “Lately, he’s been our most consistent scoring threat. He, Denzel and JuJuan are our best perimeter shooters, and that’s been the difference for Jalen lately. He’s shooting from the outside with a lot of confidence.”

For Ascension Catholic, Kolby Martinez led the way with 20. Miles Haydel scored 18.

WSJ led 31-30 at halftime, but Ascension Catholic outscored the Rams 24-14 in the third quarter.

“We fell behind because we didn’t control the ball, we made some bad passes, we didn’t stop their transition game,” said Edwards. “As well as we played defensively in the fourth, we didn’t at all in the third quarter.”

Edwards said that entering the fourth quarter, even with his team’s season on the line, he wanted to keep things simple.

“Just regroup,” said Edwards. “Be more patient and focused. But we all knew that if we were going to come back, it had to start with our defensive play.”