By RYAN ARENA
L’Observateur

LAPLACE — East St. John center Anthony Steer isn’t his team’s primary scoring option night after night. 

But when the long, rangy big man delivers in that capacity, Wildcats coach Yussef Jasmine doesn’t show a hint of surprise.

Steer’s 14 points provided a big lift for ESJ in a 70-59 District 7-5A victory over visiting Thibodaux. 

East St. John moves to 5-0 in district play and stands alone in first place. 

Steer’s 14 included a string of three baskets in a row late in the third quarter that helped propel ESJ from two-point deficit tie to a 53-45 lead entering the fourth quarter.

Thibodaux got within three twice from there but could never fully close the gap fully. 

“One thing that’s unique about this team is that we’ve got so many guys who can score. Anthony was a scorer tonight, but we’re not surprised about that. We’ve got so many guys who are threats and it makes us very tough to guard.”

The Wildcats led for most of the night, but each time East St. John seemed ready to put the game away, Thibodaux fought its way back in.

But with 1:30 left in the third quarter, Troy Green hit an elbow jumper. Then Steer made a putback and two layups, one off of a feed from Kyle Patterson and another off of a lob pass from Monterio Cage, capping a 10-0 run. 

“We had to get hungry. Everyone started eating,” said Steer of the team’s ball-movement. “Everyone contributed.’

“We had to pick it up and gain momentum to put it away.”

Tre’Von Jasmine scored 19 for East St. John (15-4, 5-0), eight of those coming in the fourth quarter. Edwin Winston added 14. Troy Green scored nine. 

DeVaughn Brown scored 14 to lead the Tigers (14-5, 3-2). Leon Gordon and Elray Duncan each scored 12. Rashad King added eight.

Thibodaux quickly cut the ESJ lead to three at the beginning of the fourth after Duncan drilled a 3 from the top of the key and Chris Johnson scored on a layup. 

Things seemed to turn even more for Thibodaux’s favor after Green was whistled for a charge with 7:11 left in the game — that was Green’s 5th foul, sending him to the bench and negating one of the Wildcats’ leading scorers for the remainder of play. 

Raekwon McKnight socked a pull up jumper to extend the lead to five, then Tre’Von Jasmine drew a foul and sank two free throws to answer a King basket. Winston scored inside to make it 59-53, and with 4:18 left, Jasmine drew another foul and sank two free throws, ESJ then ahead 61-53.

East St. John switched to a zone defense and stifled the Thibodaux halfcourt offense. Two more baskets by Jasmine all but put things away, the second coming on a strong feed from Winston. 

“They were the tougher team,” said Thibodaux coach Tony Clark. “We missed too many chances underneath. We have to be tougher than that … every time we closed the gap, we gave up second shots, too many of them.”

ESJ opened the game on an 11-2 run, capped by an alley-oop slam by Winston on a feed from McKnight. 

Thibodaux clawed back in after a 3 from Gordon and a slashing layup by Natrone Nora cut the lead to two, 20-18.

ESJ led 36-32 at halftime, but Thibodaux pushed ahead for the lead, 45-43, behind 10 quick third quarter points by Brown. 

After two decisive wins over H.L. Bourgeois — in a battle of undefeated district foes — and rival Hahnville last week, the Wildcats had to attempt to carry over that same level of intensity for a strong Thibodaux team.

Yussef Jasmine said it wasn’t quite the same feeling, but that his team showed it can find ways to win without its top-end fastball, if need be.

“We weren’t at our best. We missed way too many free throws, made way too many unforced errors,” he said. “But we found a way down the stretch.’

“After what we had last week, the energy level was so high, so amazing … You’d like to stay there all the time, but that’s difficult.”

Said Steer, “We tried to match that same hype. We feel like we can do better.”