By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

BOUTTE — East St. John jumped out early at Hahnville Friday night and rode that momentum to a 53-42 District 8-5A victory on the road.

The win maintained a one game-lead for the district leading Wildcats on second place Bonnabel entering Tuesday night’s home game between the teams (after press time).

The Wildcats led 18-6 after the first quarter and never allowed Hahnville to build sustained momentum to rally. ESJ led 42-27 after three quarters.

“We did what we set out to do,” said ESJ coach Yussef Jasmine. “We jumped on them and defensively especially, did a great job.”

Joseph Williams led the Wildcats (21-6, 7-1) with 17 points. Elex Carter added 11.

Jaylon Bryant led Hahnville with 17.

Defensively, East St. John was able to hold Tigers’ leading scorer Khari Milton to no points.

“That’s always going to make it tough on a team,” said Jasmine. “When you can hold a team’s go-to guy like that, it’s hard to establish yourself offensively.”

Carter, Jasmine said, was especially formidable at the defensive end, posting a triple double in points, rebounds and blocks.

“When a guy does that, it’s intimidating. A team doesn’t want to just hand out on the perimeter, they want to attack, get into the lane. He made that hard for them. He’s been improving each and every game, and this one I think was probably his best this season.”