Basketball: Holy Cross gets revenge against Brother Martin

Familiarity breeds contempt.

For Holy Cross, that contempt was even greater, having lost twice previously to Gentilly neighbor and rival Brother Martin. The Tigers took out their frustration Friday night on the Crusaders.

At Bob Conlin Gymnasium, Holy Cross led from start to finish in an impressive 71-60 victory, handing Brother Martin its first loss in District 9-5A. The loss avenged a pair of losses to the Crusaders, who beat the Tigers 67-66 in the CYO Tournament on Dec. 2 and defeated Holy Cross 64-51 on Jan. 2 at Holy Cross.

The Tigers led wire-to-wire, taking a 14-8 lead after one quarter.

It was 31-19 at halftime as junior Jason Chan gave the Tigers a double-figure lead on a half court 3-point shot at the buzzer. Sophomore Aaron Ursin had 13 points to lead the Tigers in the half. Holy Cross put the game away in the third quarter, outscoring Brother Martin 20-12 for a commanding 51-31 lead going to the final quarter. The lead grew as high as 23 points.

Ursin led a balanced attack with 20 points and nine rebounds, Chan had 16 points and seven assists, Junior Tyler Beaver had 14 points and five rebounds, junior Myles Sanders had 12 points and eight rebounds and sophomore Tyler Kirkwood added seven points and nine rebounds for the Tigers (16-9, 3-3).

The ability has been there from day one for Mister Kirkwood’s Tigers, who realized that potential Friday night.

The Tigers won despite playing without leading scorer Kalil Thomas, who broke his nose on Wednesday.

“We have some depth,” Kirkwood said. “Without Kalil, our kids toughened up and were resilient and followed the game plan. We had lost twice to them so there was some motivation but the main motivation was winning to make ourselves contenders for the district title. It is a tough, balanced league.”

The Tigers believed that they could and would avenge the two defeats to the Crusaders.

“We believed we could beat them despite the two previous losses,” Kirkwood said. “The first game was a game we led the whole game and let get away. The second game, we did not play well and they earned it with a big fourth quarter though we were there for three quarters. We had about 25 turnovers in each of the losses to them and you cannot win that way.”

Brother Martin (14-8, 4-1) struggled from long distance. Tyler Epps led the way with 23 points while T.J. Small added nine points and Javier Perez had eight for the Crusaders.

Holy Cross returns to action Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Archbishop Shaw in Catholic League play while Brother Martin plays at St. Augustine Sunday at 4 p.m. in a make-up game.

Kirkwood is hammering home getting consistent effort from his young squad.

“That has been the message,” Kirkwood said. We have to be more consistent. It’s all on the kids. We are young but getting better. They did exactly what we told them. They focused on the game plan and executed it. We handled their pressure well for three quarters but we slipped up a bit in the fourth quarter. We have to maintain our intensity and we missed too many free throws. They made a push, we knew they would, but we got the job done. We buckled but did not break.”

With five district games remaining, Kirkwood is optimistic and realistic, at the same time.

“If we are more consistent the rest of the way in league play, we can do some really good things. We can win all five of them all or we can lose them all, if we do not play well.”

Area Prep Basketball Results from Friday, Jan. 26

Boys

New Orleans Area

Archbishop Hannan 44, Jewel Sumner 41

Archbishop Rummel 37, Archbishop Shaw 35

Bonnabel 60, East Jefferson 45

Carver 53, Ben Franklin 45

Chalmette 52, John Ehret 43

Covenant Christian 66, Clark 48

Covington 78, Ponchatoula 74

Warren Easton 47, Jesuit 38

Franklinton 62, Lakeshore 39

Hahnville 72, Destrehan 54

Holy Cross 71, Brother Martin 60

Lusher 67, St. James 39

Mandeville 65, Fontainebleau 60

McMain 97, Belle Chasse 43

St. Paul’s 75, Northshore 46

Baton Rouge Area

Brusly 61, Baker 60

The Church Academy 93, Albany 41

Dunham 57, Port Allen 52

East Iberville 54, St. John 40

Episcopal 72, Northeast 47

Lafayette Christian 60, Jehovah-Jireh 59

Lee 57, Lutcher 51

Live Oak 55, Zachary 54

McKinley 61, Broadmoor 52

Montverde Academy, FL 88, Madison Prep 57

Runnels 44, Holden 42

Scotlandville 111, Central 42

St. Amant 71, Catholic (BR) 66 (2 OT)

St. Michael 41, Plaquemine 39

University 94, West Feliciana 65

White Castle 72, Ascension Catholic 29

Woodlawn (BR) 56, Parkview Baptist 43

Zachary 70, Live Oak 35

Bayou Area

Assumption 64, E.D. White Catholic 50

Central Lafourche 76, East St. John 70

Ellender 34, South Lafourche 33

Houma Christian 62, Ecole Classique 26

Morgan City 61, Centerville 54

Patterson 47, Berwick 42

South Terrebonne 60, Vandebilt Catholic 54

Girls

New Orleans Area

Belle Chasse 44, McMain 34

Fontainebleau 50, Mandeville 29

Hahnville 52, Destrehan 22

St. Martin’s Episcopal 41, West St. John 39

Baton Rouge Area

Brusly 38, Baker 25

The Church Academy 62, Tara 36

Dunham 45, Port Allen 34

East Iberville 54, St. John 40

Episcopal 42, Northeast 8

Lee 71, Lutcher 30

Mount Hermon 56, Family Christian 27

Plaquemine 48, St. Michael 44

Scotlandville 30, Central 26

Woodlawn (BR) 88, Parkview Baptist 47

Bayou Area

East St. John 72, Central Lafourche 20

Ellender 59, South Lafourche 51

Area Prep Basketball Schedule for Saturday, Jan. 27

Boys

New Orleans Area

Archbishop Rummel at Newman, 6:15 p.m.

Jesuit at Chalmette, 4:15 p.m.

Lee at Crescent City Christian, 4 p.m.

Southern Lab at St. Paul’s, 6 p.m.

Spanish Fort, AL at NOMMA, 3 p.m.

E.D. White Catholic at Country Day, 7 p.m.

Baton Rouge Area

Country Day at University, 11 a.m.

Holden at Jewel Sumner, 7:30 p.m.

Tara at Baker, 2 p.m.

Riverside vs. Rayville, 5 p.m. at Hall of Fame Tournament at Scotlandville

Trinity Christian, TX at Scotlandville, 7:30 p.m. at Hall of Fame Tournament

Bayou Area

Morgan City at Lafayette, 5 p.m.

Girls

New Orleans Area

Carver at Ben Franklin, 3 p.m.

Woodlawn (BR) at De La Salle, 11 a.m.

Bayou Area

Scotlandville at Thibodaux, 5:30 p.m.

Terrebonne at Ellender, 6 p.m.