REPLAY: Country Day shoots St. Edmund down to reach boys basketball semifinals

METAIRIE – When a team plays zone against a team who shoots it well, it can be a problem. When the team playing zone faces a good team shooting it extremely well, it is a huge problem.

That was the issue of No. 13 St. Edmund Thursday night at Patrick Gymnasium as No. 5 Country Day was on fire from the 3-point line and the Cajuns exploded in a 92-53 win in the Division IV quarterfinals in Metairie in a game seen live at CrescentCitySports.com.

The Blue Jays elected to play a 3-2 zone and a 2-3 zone each in the first quarter and the Cajuns burned both versions, drilling six 3-pointers by four different players. Hartson Moss had a pair of those and scored eight points. Country Day closed the quarter on an 11-0 run to take a 23-11.

The Cajuns continued their outstanding shooting in the second quarter, making three more 3-pointers and had runs of 6-0 and 8-0 in the period to extend the lead to 47-22 at halftime. Moss finished the half with 11 points.

Country Day had an 8-0 run in the third quarter to open up a 55-26 lead and led 73-44 after three quarters as the Cajuns cleared the bench. Country Day finished with 11 made 3-pointers in the game, all by early in the third quarter.

“I was really proud of our guys effort,” Country Day coach Mike McGuire said. “I thought we shot the ball extremely well but I thought we shared the ball extremely well and we had open looks and our kids knocked them down. Defensively, we wanted to speed them up. I thought we were deeper. Our plan was to press them the whole game.”

Country Day had 22 assists on the night and defense was a staple for the Cajuns with St. Edmund committing 25 turnovers.

“When we got them out of the zone, we thought we could attack them on the boards,” McGuire said. “It’s fun when the guys are hitting shots. I thought that Hartson Moss really led us, hitting 3’s. Xane Hunter attacked the goal. I thought it was well balanced scoring tonight.”

Country Day outrebounded St. Edmund 41-23.

Moss finished with 17 points, including five 3-pointers and he did not play in the fourth quarter. Gabe Kohlmaier finished with 16 points and six rebounds. Aden Nora came off the bench with 15 points and four rebounds as all 11 players who saw action scored for the Cajuns as the Cajuns get back to the Final Four for the 14th time in 17 years.

“It means a lot,” Moss said. “I’m really proud of our guys. Everybody contributed. That is what we wanted to see. If I were a team, I wouldn’t want to zone us. We’ve got to prepare. When teams see that on film, they are going to want to play man defense. We’ve got to be ready for that.”

Henry Brown led St. Edmund (15-13) with 23 points, including four 3-pointers while Easton Coleman had 19 points but fouled out with 7:40 to play. Keiran Davis had eight points and nine rebounds.

Country Day (14-9) has won five straight games and advances to face the winner of Friday night’s game between top seed and defending state champion Crescent City Christian and No. 8 Hamilton Christian with the semifinal game set for Burton Coliseum in Lake Charles. Hamilton Christian eliminated Country Day in the quarterfinals last season.

“It’s definitely the right time to get hot,” Moss said. “We’re excited. We’re ready for whoever wins this next one with Crescent City and Hamilton Christian. We would love to see Hamilton Christian again because we lost to them last year.”

McGuire feels his team is ready for the challenge in Lake Charles.

“This team is really hungry,” McGuire said. “We have five seniors and their goal was to get back to the Final Four. We won it (state title) in 2019 but last year, we lost in the quarters and this team was hungry all year. We could play the team that knocked us out. If Crescent City wins, that’s a district foe. We’re used to each other. It should be a great semifinal.”

FINAL
CD 23 24 26 19 — 92
SE 11 11 22 9 — 53

Scoring:
CD—Hartson Moss 17, Gabe Kohlmaier 16, Aden Nora 15, Miles Lemonier 7, Jordan Trahan 7, Alex Dreyer 6, Xane Hunter 6, Cam Terrell 5, Connor Trahan 5, Darryl Williams 3

SE—Henry Brown 23, Easten Coleman 19, Kieran Davis 8, Ian Dupre 2, Mark Fruge 1

Rebounds: Country Day 41, St. Edmund 23

Assists: Country Day 22, St. Edmund 4

Turnovers: Country Day 18, St. Edmund 25