Basketball: Brother Martin holds off Jesuit to avenge earlier defeat

NEW ORLEANS – It was St. Aloysius Night at the Brother Martin basketball game Friday night against rival Jesuit.

With the Crusaders wearing throwback uniforms to their rooted predecessor as a school and with a few St. Aloysius graduates in attendance, the rematch game with the Blue Jays looked the part of a throwback. Minimal scoring, solid defense and a hyped-up capacity crowd at Bob Conlin Gymnasium added up to a classic scene.

In the end, Brother Martin exacted revenge by edging Jesuit, 41-39.

The Blue Jays edged the Crusaders 56-55 at home on Jan. 4.

The Crusaders survived a fourth quarter rally by Jesuit as Michael Britsch came up short on a potential game-winning three-pointer from the left corner at the buzzer.

On Friday night, points were simply hard to come by.

After Jesuit took a 3-0 lead to start the game, the Blue Jays never led again.

Brother Martin went on runs of 5-0 and 6-0 to take an 11-5 lead after one quarter.

The Crusaders expanded the lead to 19-8 by halftime, scoring the final six points of the half as Jesuit went scoreless for the final 6:03 of the half.

That dry spell continued into the third quarter as the Crusaders expanded the lead to 25-13 before Jesuit closed the quarter on a 6-0 run to cut the deficit to 26-20 going to the fourth quarter.

Once again, Brother Martin extended the lead to 30-20 but Jesuit fought back, pulling within two points at 39-37 on a steal and layup by freshman Jasper Parker with 1:25 to play.

Marvin Jones answered with a key bucket to extend the lead to 41-37 with 33 seconds remaining before Matthew Knight sank a pair of free throws for Jesuit to pull within 41-39 with 28.4 seconds left.

Corey Skillman was fouled but he missed the front end-of the one-and-one situation, giving Jesuit a final opportunity to tie or win the game.

Parker drove to the basket but his shot was blocked by Skillman with three seconds remaining.

The Blue Jays inbounded the ball to Britsch in the corner but he came up short for the win and Brother Martin had its hard-earned win.

Jace Patin led Brother Martin with 10 points and three assists while Skillman, who was sick much of the week, came off the bench to score nine points with three rebounds and the key block. Jones added eight points, six rebounds and three assists.

Clayton Lonardo had six points and five rebounds for the Crusaders but he left the game with what appeared to be an ankle sprain, in pain, early in the fourth quarter.

“This is Catholic League basketball,” Brother Martin coach Chris Biehl said. “I don’t know how many people were here, probably about a thousand. It was good to have this atmosphere. It was great for the kids, great for the game. I’m happy to get the victory against a really good team. We knew they’d make their run. I overcoached. I went to a zone for three possessions and they scored eight points. That was dumb. I have to do a better job.”

After a slow start, Britsch finished with 16 points, including 12 in the second half with a trio of 3-pointers for Jesuit. Knight finished with eight points, six rebounds and two assists.

The Blue Jays were plagued by 17 turnovers.

“We played hard,” Jesuit coach Chris Jennings said. “Scoring the ball was a big thing. Eight points in a half. That’s not very good. You’re not going to win many games like that to even have a shot. Even after the first half, it was pretty remarkable. I was very proud of us coming back, fighting back, giving ourselves a chance at the end.”

Brother Martin played without starting center Ray Lotten, who has a foot injury while Jesuit is without starting center Josh Washington and starting point guard Jack Lo, both with knee injuries, for the season.

The Crusaders (19-5, 4-2) won their third straight game. Brother Martin entered the week sixth in the LHSAA Division I power rankings. Brother Martin faces a showdown with league-leading Archbishop Shaw in Marrero next Tuesday night. Shaw rallied past Brother Martin 52-50 at Brother Martin on Jan. 15.

The Eagles remained unbeaten in league play with an easy 60-38 win at Archbishop Rummel Friday night.

The Blue Jays (17-8, 5-2) saw their four-game win streak end. Jesuit entered the game ranked fourth in the power rankings. Jesuit will host Shaw next Friday night at 7 p.m. in a game that you can watch live on CrescentCitySports.com.

“We’re not playing great yet, we can play better than this,” Biehl said.

FINAL
BM 11 8 7 15 — 41
JES 5 3 12 19 — 39

Scoring:
BM—Jace Patin 10, Corey Skillman 9, Marvin Jones 8, Clayton Lonardo 6, Eli Pichon 3, Parker Dinsdale 3, DJ Fowler 2

JES—Michael Britsch 16, Matthew Knight 8, Jude Laforge 4, Jasper Parker 4, Will Sheridan 4, Vincent Smith 3

Rebounding:
BM 28, JES 23

Turnovers:
BM 11, JES 17