After Destrehan surged out the gates, it had to weather a bit of a storm in the second quarter of its home game with fellow River Parishes competitor St. Charles Catholic Tuesday night.
A 3-point shooting barrage by the Comets in the second quarter nearly erased what was an 11-point Wildcats lead early, but Destrehan righted the ship, maintained its lead and finished things out for a 60-49 victory to move to 9-8 overall this season.
Keenan Brown scored 15 points to lead Destrehan while Trevez Walker added 14 and Kolby Payton 12.
For St. Charles, Austin Catalano scored 22 to lead the way. Bryce Dupard scored nine and Alex Melancon scored seven.
It was Walker who got Destrehan going early on. He hit a jumper for the first points of the night, then went on to score in transition and twice more on offensive rebounds to score eight of his team’s first 11 points.
“We’ve been locked in since we came to school today,” said Walker. “This has been on my mind all day. We had a talk before the game about how we had to lock in and jump out early, play fast and play hard. And that’s what made us successful.”
Brown started going to work offensively from there, first getting a steal and layup and then hitting a 3 off a kickout from Cayden Coleman that put DHS ahead 17-6.
“Trevez Walker, he’s a kid who – I’ve been waiting to see him do that. He’s a senior and he was hitting his shot. He was confident and you saw the results. Keenan Brown, he hit some big shots for us. Those guys are seniors and that’s what makes me feel so good – their senior leadership is starting to show,” said Destrehan head coach Khary Carrell.
The Comets weren’t interested in making things easy, though, and Catalano put on a shooting exhibition in the second quarter, making three long 3s that began stretching the Destrehan zone out. He scored eight straight points for St. Charles, and another 3 from Melancon made just a 3-point DHS lead at 23-20.
“They can shoot that ball. (Catalano) can shoot from the half-court line. Hats off to them and to Coach Angelo (Montalbano) I knew him when he was at Ascension Christian, he did a tremendous job there and he’s doing a tremendous job with (the St. Charles) program,” said Carrell. “I’m happy our guys were able to close it out and get the dub tonight.”
Destrehan’s Kolby Payton scored on the block just before half to make it 26-20 after two quarters. Catalano sank another 3-pointer just at the start of the third quarter to cut it to three again before a Coleman putback and a Brown drive and score gave Destrehan some breathing room again.
The Wildcats shifted gears defensively from zone to man-to-man. That led to some success inside for Dupard, but the Comets would not make another three until just before the end of regulation.
“We closed out hard and ran them off the line and made them drive and kick,” said Brown.
Said Carrell, “We went to zone early to try and get them a little rest, but then he started stepping behind the timeline. So, we came in at halftime and said, ‘Oh no … go to man, stay on him.’ I don’t think we gave him a chance to look at the basket as easy as he did in the first half.”
It was a worthwhile tradeoff for Destrehan. Beau Brouillette hit a 3 to make it 40-29. Sergie Williams added a bucket-and-one, making it 43-31. A Melancon basket early in the fourth cut it to nine, but back-to-back shots by Walker pushed the lead back to 13.
The Comets (4-5) went to a press to speed the game up and force mistakes, but Destrehan was ultimately able to handle and break the pressure to put things away, with Payton scoring eight down the stretch to help DHS ice the win.
Destrehan will begin district play at the end of the month. The program continues to move upward. After a two-win season just two years ago – one in which St. Charles defeated DHS 52-27 in the last meeting between the teams – the Wildcats returned to the playoffs last season and are off to a strong start through 17 games this season.
“I feel like we’ve really picked it up and we’re doing the little things. We were inexperienced before, we didn’t know how to finish off games, but tonight that’s what we did,” said Brown.
Said Walker, “We’re working better together as a team and we’re focused on basketball, not on distractions or anything else going on around us.”
