ESJ absorbs tough loss

Published 11:45 pm Friday, February 22, 2013

By RYAN ARENA
L’Observateur
East St. John’s season came to a heartbreaking end Monday night as McKinley rallied late to earn a 60-58 victory at home in a Class 5A bi-district playoff game.
Brianna Brown sunk two free throws with 4.1 seconds left to put the winning points on the board for McKinley. Brown scored a game-high 26 points, 18 coming in the fourth quarter.
East St. John led by five with just over a minute left, but a rash of turnovers in the face of McKinley’s press gave the Panthers (21-9) an opening. McKinley tied the game at 58 with less than 10 seconds left, then forced a turnover with 6.8 seconds remaining to create a chance to win.
“For 30 minutes, we handled their pressure well. We made them get out of it,” said East St. John coach Jackson Manuel. “But for the final 1:40, we didn’t handle it well at all for whatever reason.”
Da’Rae Taylor scored 19 points to lead ESJ. Like Brown, she did a lot of her damage late, scoring 10 of those points in the final period.
“Those two put on an exhibition in point guard play,” said Manuel. “It was a show, a great matchup.”
Brishane Haynes scored 11 points and Jermani Thompson 10 for East St. John.
Angela Udofa scored 15 points for McKinley.
ESJ (21-8) led by two at halftime of a back-and-forth game.
“All respect to McKinley’s team. These teams really are mirror images,” said Manuel, who coached McKinley head coach Cory Grant while at John McDonogh. “They’ve got an excellent team.”
Manuel, however, wasn’t pleased with the officiating in the game. Specifically, he took issue with a series of timekeeping errors where play was stopped due to the clock not starting, as well as a fourth quarter foul call that was changed from one player to another due to an official overruling another; the original call would have fouled out a McKinley starter.
“They stopped play and added time, instead of deducting it,” said Manuel. “Five different times it happens. Play stops when we have numbers (on a fast break) … if the clock doesn’t start, why are you adding a second? It’s a situation where, if that never happens, maybe they don’t have those final seconds to make free-throws or tie the game.
“It leaves a bitter taste. I kind of feel like we should still be playing.”
The loss hasn’t dampened Manuel’s enthusiasm for next season, however. East St. John will return all but two players, seniors Haynes and Nya Duhe.
This season’s team overcame a lot of turnover, and not just from last season, Jackson said.
“This was a truly phenomenal year,” said Manuel. “The young lady who would have been our starting center didn’t play. Three games in, our starting power forward moved to Colorado. Our third guard went out, and our defensive specialist off the bench relocated to Baton Rouge.
“I don’t know how many teams could afford to lose four key parts of the rotation, two starters, and go 21-8 and be co-district champions. When you couple the things we’ve dealt with as far as the hurricane, and not having a chance to play Destrehan in our gym … these girls overcame a lot.”
Manuel said that he’s already antsy to get the ball rolling.
“I almost want to call them and tell them we’ve got practice tomorrow,” he said. “I can’t wait for next season.”