By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

RESERVE – East St. John coach Yussef Jasmine told his team that it needed to get off to a fast start against Jesuit Thursday night. The Wildcats responded, and then some.

Jesuit mustered just two points in an opening quarter that ranks among the most dominant defensive efforts of the Jasmine era at ESJ. The Wildcats led the Blue Jays 19-2 after the first – it propelled them to a 67-49 victory at the Leon Godcheaux Jr. High gymnasium.

“That was our mindset from the beginning,” said center Elex Carter, who scored 14 and all but shut down the lane defensively. “They didn’t shoot well at first, then (Riley Conroy) got hot and we had to get a handle on him. But we did a good job stopping their quick stuff and making them work.”

Tre’Von Jasmine scored 20 and Edwin Winston scored 19 for East St. John (6-4).

Brant Michaels led Jesuit (6-6) with 18. Conroy added 17.

East St. John dominated with a different look than in years past; the team went to a zone-heavy approach, something Yussef Jasmine said allows his team to keep Carter patrolling the lane.

“In my opinion, he’s the best defensive player in the state,” said Jasmine. “We want to keep him where he can do his thing … With our personnel, we think this is the best way to go.”

“We tried to go inside a few times. With 33 (Carter) there, it’s not gonna happen,” said Jesuit coach Chris Jennings.

As it did in its home opener Monday against Shaw, East St. John pushed the pace in transition and attacked the paint relentlessly. East St. John led 8-2 after five minutes of play when Raekwon McKnight came up with a steal and fed Kyle Patterson for a layup at the other end. Tre’Von Jasmine sank two free throws, then Carter made a layup to cap a fast break. With time expiring, Jasmine sunk a 3 from the corner to make it 19-2.

“I thought the key was for us to be disciplined,” said Jasmine. “We were able to rotate out onto their shooters and contest.”

Jesuit finally stopped the bleeding early in the second quarter, when Conroy hit a pair of 3-pointers early in the second. Preston Reisig scored on a layup to cut the ESJ lead to 13, 26-23.

But the Wildcats quickly pushed the margin back upward. Carter scored again on the interior, letting out a yell as he drew a foul. He missed the free throw, but made amends by finding Kendall Jackson for a bucket for ESJ’s next score, making it 30-13.

“Coach said that I needed to start doing more offensively,” said Carter, who scored 14 on Monday as well.

Jasmine scored on an assist from Jackson, who snatched an offensive rebound to keep the possession alive. East St. John led by as many as 20 in the first half and took a 40-22 lead into the break.

Jesuit trailed by as many as 22 in the second half. A pair of 3-pointers by Grant Nichols along with another by Brett Spansel helped the Blue Jays cut the lead to 15 in the fourth quarter; Jasmine and Winston converted back-to-back buckets and Jesuit would never get closer.

It’s Winston’s second game of the week as the team’s second leading scorer.

“He’s kind of a scoring machine,” said Yussef Jasmine. “He gets the ball in the lane and knows what to do with it. The other guys are starting to recognize that and they’re getting him the ball more.”

Said Winston, “It all came off of the fast break. I was getting to my spot, my guards got it to me and I took it to the hole from there.”

The Wildcats are a young group – Carter is the lone senior starter, and the only rotation player that played heavily a season ago. While ESJ lost two close early season games to a pair of Jesuit rivals in Brother Martin and St. Augustine, the Wildcats left nothing to chance on Thursday night.

“We made some of those mistakes that young teams make. Tonight, I think they took what they learned from those games, said Yussef Jasmine. “We play those games because, with a young team, you want them to mature quickly. And the thing about it is, when you play these kinds of teams, either you mature quick or you’ll get your brains beat in.”