REPLAY: St. Aug solidifies Catholic League lead with win over Curtis

Seeking revenge for a tough loss in River Ridge, St. Augustine was motivated and played the part from start to finish Friday night as the Purple Knights drilled John Curtis Christian 78-56 at St. Mary’s Academy to take control of District 9-5A in a game seen live on CrescentCitySports.com.

John Curtis defeated St. Augustine 61-57 on Jan. 10 at home.

This time around, St. Augustine took control immediately.

After John Curtis scored the first two points of the game, the Purple Knights ripped off 14 straight points to take a 14-2 lead and closed the first quarter on an 8-0 run to lead 22-4.

The lead grew to 34-10 in the second quarter before John Curtis steadied things and closed the deficit to 39-24 by halftime.

The outcome was never in doubt the rest of the way as St. Augustine maintained its double-figure lead throughout and carried a 60-43 lead into the final quarter.

Junior Turner Duncan was outstanding for St. Augustine, scoring 23 points, including four 3-pointers. Duncan added five rebounds, four assists and three steals.

Josh Jackson came off the bench to score 12 points, all in the second half while Cy Merritt had 11 points, six rebounds, three steals, three assists and two blocks. Hubert Caliste also scored 11 points with eight rebounds.

The Patriots lost their fourth straight and continue to struggle without superb freshman and leading scorer Autrail Manning, who remains out with a wrist injury.

Senior Mark Johnson topped the Patriots with 14 points and eight rebounds while Michael Turner Jr. had 11 points and three rebounds. Xavier Brown came off the bench to score 11 points, including a trio of 3-pointers for Curtis.

Third-year coach Gerald Lewis, who led the Purple Knights to a state championship in 2021, saw his talented but up and down team play to its full potential against Curtis.

“Absolutely and now is the best time to be that team, right?” Lewis said. “We’re really trying to put the pieces together. I’m still working on rotations but the kids are starting to love on each other, starting to support each other. We’re going in the right direction. We defended and shared the ball. You’ve got to break a lot of eggs to make a great omelet.”

St. Augustine (16-12, 7-1) is three games ahead of its nearest competitors in Catholic League play with four district games remaining.

The Purple Knights return to action Saturday in a tournament at Booker T. Washington against McMain.

John Curtis (19-8, 5-4) will play at International High in a non-district contest Saturday.

FINAL
SA 22 17 21 19 — 78
JC 4 20 19 13 — 56

Scoring:
SA—Turner Duncan 23, Josh Jackson 12, Cy Merritt 11, Hubert Caliste 11, Devin Johnson 6, Danderick Green 5, Bobby Kennedy 4, Davis Goodwin 4, Dex McClellan 2

JC—Mark Johnson 14, Xavier Brown11, Michael Turner Jr. 11, Aaron Johnson Jr. 8, Dagan Bruno, Samajai McClendon 3, Midnight Martin 3

Rebounds:
SA 40, JC 31

Turnovers:
SA 9, JC 16

Area Prep Basketball Results from Friday, Feb. 3

Boys
Amite 73, Bogalusa 59
Archbishop Hannan 69, Lakeshore 42
Archbishop Rummel 62, Holy Cross 58
Archbishop Shaw 76, Higgins 42
Brother Martin 60, Karr 46
Country Day 61, Jehovah-Jireh 38
Destrehan 48, Central Lafourche 47
East Iberville 95, Varnado 39
East Jefferson 69, Bonnabel 50
East St. John 85, H.L. Bourgeois 81
Grand Isle 42, Lutheran 25
Hahnville 58, Thibodaux 47
John Ehret 54, Chalmette 47
Landry 71, Belle Chasse 68
M.L. King Charter 86, Sarah T. Reed 45
Northshore 59, Hammond 42
Pope John Paul II 51, Northlake Christian 39
South Plaquemines 73, Rosenwald Collegiate Academy 35
St. Augustine 78, John Curtis Christian 56
St. Paul’s 63, Mandeville 33
St. Thomas Aquinas 59, French Settlement 53
Thomas Jefferson 56, Houma Christian 40

Girls
Albany 59, Pine 29
Amite 64, Bogalusa 44
Archbishop Hannan 45, Lakeshore 39
Destrehan 49, Central Lafourche 40
Dominican 43, Kenner Discovery 33
Donaldsonville 66, Berwick 18
Doyle 47, Madison Prep 39
East St. John 64, H.L. Bourgeois 40
Geo Next Generation 59, Carver 45
Hahnville 41, Thibodaux 39
John Curtis Christian 70, St. Mary’s Academy 17
Newman 51, Riverside Academy 38
Northlake Christian 35, Pope John Paul II 32
Northshore 50, Hammond 49
Phoenix 38, De La Salle 35
Ponchatoula 78, Slidell 45
Salmen 59, Pearl River 30
Slidell 50, Covington 23
South Plaquemines 49, St. Katharine Drexel 15
Springfield 51, St. Helena 41
St. Thomas Aquinas 55, French Settlement 41