Boys Basketball Playoffs: St. Paul’s earns first trip to state semifinals with 78-66 win over Brother Martin

Video: Stephen Dale, Parker Edwards after quarterfinal victory

COVINGTON, La. – No one had to remind Stephen Dale, Parker Edwards or any of the St. Paul’s players about how their season ended in 2017.

As a higher seed, the Wolves lost a late lead and lost to Brother Martin at home in the Division I quarterfinals.

One day short of a year later, the Wolves again had a fourth quarter lead over the Crusaders in the Division I quarterfinals at home and the Crusaders were again forcing turnovers and battle back.

This time around, St. Paul’s had an answer and the final word, holding off the Crusaders 78-66 in a game heard on WGSO, 990 AM to reach the final four in basketball for the first time in school history.

It was largely thanks to Edwards.

The senior pumped in 35 points, including seven 3-pointers, while pulling down seven rebounds in a superb effort.

“Before the game, that’s all we heard and talked about was payback, payback,” Edwards said. “They’re a really good team and they fought hard and I’m just glad we got the W.”

The accomplishment was not lost on Edwards.

“It’s the first one in school history, it means so much to me and it means so much to the team,” Edwards said. Actually, I was in a little slump and then I think it was against Fontainebleau, I hit eight of them (3 pointers). I’ve been hot the last two or three games and I’m hoping I can keep it going. This week in practice, we preached no turnovers, no turnovers.”

In a game in which St. Paul’s never trailed, Brother Martin tied St. Paul’s at 2-2 and 4-4. The Wolves then went on an 8-0 run and never trailed again. They led 15-11 after one quarter despite committing eight turnovers.

St. Paul’s went on a 10-0 run in the second quarter to open up a 12 point lead before settling for a 35-25 lead by halftime. Edwards had 13 points in the second quarter, 18 in the half.

The Crusaders turned up the defensive pressure in the third quarter and went on a 7-0 run to close to within 47-44 but that is as close as they would get. St. Paul’s closed the quarter on a 10-3 run to lead 57-47 going to the final quarter. Edwards took control, scoring 17 points in the quarter.

Brother pulled within five points twice in the final quarter but could never catch the Wolves as senior Devonte Allen scored eight points in the quarter to finish with 24 points and nine rebounds as he and Edwards combined for 59 of the Wolves’ 78 points.

“Those two guys have been special all year,” Dale said. “I’m not looking forward to life without them. Our whole senior class has been so special all season long with their leadership and their play on the court.”

Dale knew it would be a tough game.

“You give a lot of credit to Brother Martin,” Dale said. “That’s such a tough team that just battles and battles you. It kind of played out exactly like we thought. We knew we could never get too comfortable. We knew they were going to keep making runs. A lot of credit to them and a lot of credit to our guys for this year being able to answer those runs with either a big shot, a big rebound or a big stop.”

The Wolves overcame 21 turnovers largely by dominating on the boards with 34 rebounds to 17 for the Crusaders.

“We knew we had to win the game on the boards,” Dale said. “We knew we had a significant advantage and I thought our bigs did a great job rebounding the ball. The way their style of play was, we knew it was going to be a messy game with a lot of turnovers. For us, it was situational, to make sure we don’t have the bad, timely turnover.”

Sophomore Davonn Moore led Brother Martin (17-13) with 20 points, seven rebounds and three assists while junior Victor Tomlinson came off the bench to score 10 points.

“Our kids played hard, they gave great effort,” said Brother Martin head coach Chris Beal. “We left it all on the floor. Give credit to St. Paul’s. They played hard and they are a good team. We gave up a lot of size and it hurt us on the boards but we missed some opportunities on shots inside and with free throws.”

The Crusaders made just 13-of-27 free throws (48%). St. Paul’s was 12-of-17 from the line (70.5%).

St. Paul’s advances to the state tournament in Lake Charles to play third-seed Catholic High of Baton Rouge. The Bears defeated Purple Knights 39-25.

“We downplayed it all week with the guys but everybody in our program that no St. Paul’s team had gotten there,” Dale said. “I’m just so happy for them. They’ve worked so hard to get there. I think we’ve got a healthy rivalry with Brother Martin. They’re such a good program. They battle you and they’re tough. It’s a rivalry now but a respectful rivalry.”

“We’ve got to keep playing our game,” Edwards said. “We’re pretty good, too! We’ve just got to come to play every night. I think we have a really good chance of getting to the state championship.”

Final
BM 11 14 22 19 66
SP 15 20 22 21 78

Scoring
BM—Davonn Moore 20, Victor Tomlinson 10, Nick Turner 6, Tyler Lally 5, Tyler Epps 5, Javier Perez 4,
SP—Parker Edwards 35, Devonte Allen 24, Bill Leahy 6, Luke Andrews 5, Chandler Owenby 4, Colin Quinlan 2

Rebounds
BM 17, SP 34

Turnovers
BM 9, SP 21

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