By RYAN ARENA

NEW ORLEANS — East St. John came up just short of advancing to the semifinals of the All-State Sugar Bowl CYO basketball tournament, falling in a dramatic triple-overtime affair to Brother Martin, 80-77, at Brother Martin.

Patrick McCree’s layup with less than a minute to play lifted the Crusaders (5-0), who advanced to set up a meeting with Jesuit in the next round. That game was slated for Friday night at Holy Cross.

The Wildcats (3-2) were attempting to earn a small measure of payback for last postseason, when the Crusaders upset East St. John in a second round game.

Kyron Mitchell scored 21 points and Edwin Winston added 18 to lead East St. John.

Jabbar Singleton scored 25 and Jordan Cornish scored 21 to lead Brother Martin. Jalen Gray and Jordan Lumpkin scored 19 and 17 respectively.

ESJ led 32-31 at halftime. The game was tied at 63 at the end of regulation.

East St. John advanced to face Brother Martin after a dominating victory over Sophie B. Wright in the opening round of the tournament, 80-38.

Winston scored 18 to lead the Wildcats. Troy Green scored 14 and Elex Carter added 10.

Anthony Oates scored 15 to lead Wright.

East St. John charged out of the gates in the first quarter; beginning with Green’s layup to start the period, it outscored Wright (0-7) 24-0 in the opening frame. ESJ did not allow a point until over a minute was gone in the second quarter and led 37-2 at one point.

“I felt like our guys really responded. We talked about getting off to a great start,” said Jasmine. “I felt like we shared the ball and got good, quality looks.”

The Wildcats led 8-0 after a monster alley-oop dunk by Carter off of an assist by Monterio Cage; the lead grew to 16-0 on a one-handed slam by Carter.

“The big fella got a few monster dunks early. With (Wright) struggling early, I think that kind of knocked the wind out of them,” said Jasmine.

The 6’7 big man’s highlight film wasn’t done on the evening, as he opened the second half by throwing down another alley-oop slam, this one from Kendall Jackson.

“Our team chemistry is really coming together,” said Carter, a senior who is one of the lone returning rotation players from a season ago. “We’ve been working hard at practice and cutting down on the turnovers and fouling, which I think we did a good job of avoiding tonight.

“If we keep that up, we’ll be good.”

Green scored 10 points in the first quarter to help the Wildcats establish a stronghold. Jackson and Carter each scored six.