The Jays and Crusaders played a physical game Friday night in chilly Gentilly. From left, Elijah Morgan, Michael Hull, Mark Beebe, and Ross Talbot keep this Crusader bottled up.

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Jesuit dropped its second straight district game this week when Brother Martin gave the Jays an ice cold welcome Friday night on Elysian Fields Avenue.

The Crusaders won handily, 65-43. The Blue Jays overall record is 7-14 and 2-3 in District 9-5A. The season won’t get any easier for the Jays, who host St. Augustine (15-7) on Tuesday evening in the Birdcage with tipoff at 7.

The Crusaders grabbed the lead from tipoff and never relinquished it, shooting 53% from the field compared to 36% for Jesuit. Brother Martin tallied 25 of their 65 points from the free throw line. Jesuit sunk 12 of 16 free throws.

At the end of the first quarter, Brother Martin led, 20-11; at halftime, their lead was extended, 33-18; at the end of the third quarter, the Crusaders built a 25-point lead, 51-26; only in the fourth quarter did the Jays outscore the Crusaders, 17-14.

Nick Varnado (23) and Ross Talbot are two of the three freshmen who saw extensive playing time against Brother Martin. Elijah Morgan was the other freshman.

“We just got beat pretty good, and when you don’t score points, well, we have to score more points,” said Coach Chris Jennings ’78. “The first half just had some lapses. The first two possessions were not good for us defensively and we had a couple more, so that’s eight points we gave up. We can’t do that. We can’t be giving the other team points.”

The Jays had 16 turnovers while the Crusaders had 11. However, Brother Martin scored 17 points off the Jesuit turnovers, while the Jays managed to score only three points. Additionally, the Crusaders had 10 steals to Jesuit’s two.

No Blue Jays reached double figures. But among Jesuit’s top scorers were a trio of freshmen: Elijah Morgan and Nick Varnado each tallied nine points, while Ross Talbot added seven points.

“I thought at the end of the game, we didn’t quit, we kept playing, I thought we kept battling,” said Coach Jennings, citing one of the positive aspects of the contest. “We stopped giving them easy baskets. I was really proud of the guys for that. Towards the end when we could have gone through the motions, I thought we competed and took some pride in what we were doing.”

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