By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

West St. John rolled to victory Tuesday night, emerging from a clash with Bishop McManus with a 62-41 victory.

A strong start set the tone for the Rams, who got out to a 17-4 lead after one quarter of play and led 32-13 at halftime.

“Our man to man defense was pretty strong,” said West St. John coach Antoine Edwards. “We got a number of easy buckets from that. The press helped us get out to that early lead and we maintained it from there.”

Jalen Adams came through with the latest in a string of strong scoring performances, putting up 27 points to lead all scorers. Lawrence Williams scored 12, Qwan Scott scored 11 and Damone Pierce added eight for the Rams (3-10).

A big part of the Rams’ strong defensive effort has been Williams, who is typically asked to guard the opposition’s top scorer.

“He’s helped a lot after coming over from football,” said Edwards. “If we matchup with a prolific scorer, he’s the guy we trust to defend him, to slow him down. He’s playing well.”

The Rams fell in two out of three games at the Plaquemines tournament last weekend, but Edwards was encouraged by the team’s win over St. John-Plaquemine and its overall improved play.

Adams scored 22 in the team’s win over the Eagles and 26 in a loss to Hammond.

Adams, Edwards said, has been asked to carry the scoring load with the team not at full strength in terms of personnel, and he has been more than up to the challenge.

“He’s picked up the slack,” said Edwards. “He’s scoring inside and outside and he’s also doing a good job crashing the boards, getting put backs. He’s doing it in all ways.”

The Rams other loss came in a close game to Plaquemine, 47-44. Juwan Green scored 13 and Scott scored 11 in the loss.