Basketball: St. Paul’s pulls away late in win over Slidell

Entering the start of District 6-5A play Friday night, St. Paul’s was a hot team.

The Wolves stayed hot, opening league competition with a 66-52 boys basketball win at Slidell for their fifth consecutive victory overall.

St. Paul’s jumped out to a 16-8 lead after one quarter but Slidell cut the deficit to 29-26 by halftime and it remained close at 50-47 after three quarters.

The Wolves controlled play in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Tigers 16-5 to pull away for the win.

Senior Reece Seicshnaydre led the way with 24 points, including sinking 7 of 8 free throw attempts. Junior Michael Sarver scored 13 points and senior Ben Owenby finished with eight points.

Junior Chico Lander led Slidell with 18 points while sophomore James Caney added nine points.

After a slow start to the season, the Wolves have won 13 of their last 15 games.

Currently ninth in the LHSAA Select Division I power rankings, St. Paul’s (16-6) resumes league play next Tuesday, hosting Hammond while Slidell (7-17) will play a non-district contest at H.L. Bourgeois today at 6 p.m.

Area Prep Basketball Results from Friday, Jan. 20

Boys

Archbishop Hannan 49, Franklinton 31

Archbishop Shaw 78, West Jefferson 55

Fontainebleau 48, Hammond 46

Hahnville 47, Central Lafourche 40

Holden 59, Ben Franklin 53

Holy Cross 59, Brother Martin 56

John Curtis Christian 61, Archbishop Rummel 55

Karr 51, Country Day 48

Landry 66, Bonnabel 63

Ponchatoula 86, Covington 67

St. Augustine 52, Jesuit 44

St. Paul’s 66, Slidell 52

Walker 68, Amite 59

Girls

Academy of Sacred Heart (NO) 44, Country Day 25

Albany 79, Bogalusa 36

Ben Franklin 47, Holden 36

De La Salle 65, St. Katharine Drexel 19

East St. John 48, Destrehan 35

Hahnville 41, Central Lafourche 31

Hammond 61, Fontainebleau 59

Lakeshore 50, Salmen 49

Lutcher 46, Morgan City 43

Mandeville 51, Northshore 32

Patterson 56, St. James 54

Ponchatoula 66, Covington 18

St. Helena 29, Northlake Christian 17