Basketball Misses Shot for District Front-Runner Spot
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Junior Noah Varnado draws the foul and makes the basket, narrowing the Jesuit deficit with just over a minute to play in the game.
Both Jesuit and St. Augustine entered Tuesday night’s basketball game with just one district loss. Since the winner would place themselves in the driver’s seat for the second round of district play, it was not the best game to be missing the team’s leading scorer, junior Elijah Morgan, with the flu. Be that as it may, the Jays fought hard in the contest but came up short, losing the Purple Knights 26-23. In the first meeting of Jesuit and St. Augustine earlier in January, the Jays had been able to prevail in another low-scoring battle, 36-35.
View the Photo Gallery of the Jesuit vs St. Augustine Basketball Game
Despite taking nearly twice as many shots from the field as St. Augustine in the game, Jesuit was only able to make 16% of them. The first half debuted the worse offensive performances for both teams all season. Jesuit’s defense and rebounding kept them at a slight advantage all half, though, and the team led by an unheard-of basketball score of 7-5 at halftime.
In the first two minutes of the 3rd Quarter, the Jays scored as many points as they did in the entire first half and secured their largest lead of the night, 14-7. The rest of the quarter belonged to St. Augustine, though, as the Jays were scoreless for the rest of the quarter and allowed the Purple Knights to take a 16-14 lead.
St. Augustine maintained their lead throughout the 4th Quarter. With just one minute left in the game and Jesuit trailing by six points, a contested layup by junior Noah Varnado and 3-pointer by senior Will Landrieu pulled the Jays within one point for a show down at the end. After St. Augustine extended their lead to three points, the Jays had multiple looks from behind the arc but simply could not find the net to tie the game. The final score was 26-23.
The loss makes Jesuit’s district record 4-2, which is now one loss behind St. Augustine. The Jays are next in action this weekend with two games in the Birdcage. On Friday night, Jesuit will take on Rummel in the regularly scheduled district match-up. Then on Saturday night, the Jays will play Brother Martin, who also boasts a 4-2 district record, in a game that had to be rescheduled due to freezing temperatures. Tip-off for both games this weekend is at 7 PM.
Read More…
NOLA.com – St. Augustine 26, Jesuit 23: Purple Knights vault to first place in Catholic League
The Advocate – Catholic League slugfest: Defense leads St. Aug past Jesuit
Galleries
Basketball vs St. Augustine, January 30, 2018
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Noah Varnado finds some space between two St. Augustine defenders to get his shot off. -
Senior Michael Hull banks it in for some early points for the Jays. -
Robert McMahon surveys the court for an open teammate. -
Drew Black finished the back-screen play with a layup underneath. -
Nick Artigues controls his body to get an open look in the lane. -
Senior Zach DeBlieux makes an aggressive play on the ball. -
In the 4th Quarter, Michael Hull makes this shot to help keep the Jays within striking distance. -
Nick Artigues puts the ball back up after an offensive rebound. -
Will Landrieu keeps his man in front at mid-court. -
Noah Varnado draws the foul and makes the basket to narrow the deficit with just over a minute to play in the game. -
As time winds down, Michael Hull tries to tie it up with a 3-pointer... -
...and Will Landrieu does the same from the other side of the court. -
With three seconds left, Drew Black receives the in-bound pass at mid-court and passes up to... -
...Will Landrieu, who had to force an off-balanced shot that just missed as time expired.
