Caliste’s buzzer-beating 3 lists St. Augustine past Jesuit

NEW ORLEANS – This is getting to be a regular thing.

In two previous Catholic League wins, St. Augustine has won the first in overtime over Brother Martin and the second in double overtime at Archbishop Rummel.

This time, the Purple Knights did not need overtime but still managed the most dramatic win of all.

His nickname is “Biggie,” and at the most important time, Hubert Caliste came up biggest. He swished a 24-foot shot at the buzzer to give St. Augustine a thrilling 47-46 win over Jesuit in a battle for the District 9-5A lead Thursday night at Gayle & Tom Benson Arena.

Trailing 46-44 with 13.8 seconds left, the Purple Knights got the ball to Air Force signee Turner Duncan, who drove to the basket but had his shot blocked by Ethan Lapeze.

The ball came right back to Duncan, who spotted Caliste beyond the left elbow, got it to him cleanly and Caliste got nothing but net.

“This game was kind of tough for me because I missed a lot of shots,” Caliste said. “My teammates and coaches were telling me just keep shooting the ball. I kept shooting and I got one in there. Coach said I had one in me. Turner saw that I had my hands up, he trusted me, shout out to Turner.”

It was good karma for Caliste, who had missed five field goal attempts 3-of-4 free throws as he was derided by the Jesuit student section, chanting, “Hubert, Hubert.”

In the clutch, Hubert had the big answer.

Caliste was scoreless in the first three quarters and scored all six of his points in the fourth quarter. His 3-pointer was just the second of the game by either team, both by St. Augustine.

The winning shot came after Jude Laforge split a pair of free throws with 13.8 seconds left to give Jesuit the 46-44 lead.

The Purple Knights, who were swimming upstream most of the night, missed six free throws in the final quarter and made just 11-of-21 free throws on the night after sinking 26-of-31 free throws in an overtime win at Rummel last Saturday.

Still, St. Augustine was able to overcome it with a physical defensive effort.

The Purple Knights forced 21 turnovers which proved pivotal in enabling the comeback win.

“Our thing is our defense,” St. Augustine coach Gerald Lewis said. “We changed it up a little bit, we tried to give them a little something they haven’t seen. They know me, we know them, we’ve got to pull something out the back pocket. I think it stole a couple of possessions for us and helped us out a lot.”

After Brandon Royal scored the opening basket for St. Augustine, Jesuit went on a 12-0 run to close the quarter with a 12-2 lead.

The run continued to start the second quarter and the Blue Jays led 16-2 before the Purple Knights turned up its defensive intensity, switching to zone matchup looks, a triangle-and-two and even a 1-3-1 defense, forcing seven turnovers and closed the half on a 5-0 run to cut the deficit to 23-17.

Jesuit extended the lead to 28-20 in the third quarter before St. Augustine battled back, closing the quarter on a 9-2 run to cut the deficit to 33-32 heading to the final quarter.

In the fourth quarter, the lead changed hands five times, the last time being the game-winner. Jesuit maintained a 45-40 lead with 1:02 to play in the game but could not hold it.

The Purple Knights overcame star Cy Merrett fouling out with 1:22 to play and Dandrick Green Jr. fouling out with 13.8 seconds remaining.

“We’re a crazy team, I’ll tell you,” Lewis said. “They’re keeping me up at night. The game could have went either way. I told Biggie to keep shooting the ball. He came up with that big one like that. He’s a big-shot maker. He’s been doing it his whole career. We’re not surprised. I put my hands up. I prayed it in.”

Joshua Jackson led St. Augustine with nine points and three steals while Duncan had eight points and three steals.

Brewer Nitcher topped Jesuit with 20 points, 14 rebounds and four blocked shots while Zach Lagraize had 10 points and four rebounds.

The Purple Knights overcame a 30-18 bulge for the Blue Jays.

St. Augustine (16-6, 3-1) hosts Holy Cross Friday night.

“It’s not like we won a state championship or anything but it means something when you come together, you’re down and you fight together and you don’t splinter and that’s what happened. It was a great win for us.”

Jesuit (20-5, 3-2) plays at St. Mary’s Saturday afternoon.

FINAL
Jesuit 12 11 10 13 — 46
St. Aug 2 15 15 15 — 47

Scoring:
St. Aug: Joshua Jackson 9, Cy Merrett 8, Turner Duncan 7, Hubert Caliste 6, Dandrick Green Jr. 6, Brandon Royal 5, Donny Johnson 5, Devin Johnson 2

Jesuit: Brewer Nitcher 20, Zach Lagraize 10, Jude Laforge 6, Ben Cimini 6, Gus Laibe 2, Ethan Lapeze 2

Rebounds: St. Augustine 18, Jesuit 30

Turnovers: St. Augustine 11, Jesuit 21

Assists: St. Augustine 7, Jesuit 12

Fouls: St. Augustine 23, Jesuit 15