Eagles survive Christian Life 58-50

In a game that went back and forth for much of the night, Central Catholic had just enough to hold off Christian Life Academy for a 58-50 victory in Class 1A bi-district playoff action Friday at Central Catholic.
Trailing 49-39 with 3:10 remaining in the contest, the Crusaders went on a 9-4 run to cut its deficit to 53-48 with 1:14 remaining in the ball game.
However, the Eagles, who have had trouble at times shooting free throws this season, made five of six free throws in the final minute to seal the victory.
Central Catholic coach Ree Case said he thought the game would be a tough one and noted both teams were similar.
“I thought it would come down to guards, and I thought our guards played better than their guards, and then Jalen (Johnson) in the fourth quarter was big in the low post,” Case said.
Johnson led four Eagles in double figures with 18 points. Other double-digit scorers included Stefano Guarisco with 13 and Samarick Paul and Blake Byrne with 11 points apiece.
Christian Life’s late run was preceded by some chippy moments in the game as the game was stopped for quite a while with 3:18 remaining when, after Central Catholic and Christian Life went to the floor for a loose ball, pushing and shoving ensued after the play on the court before it was broken up fairly quickly.
However, after the play, the referees took quite some time to dole out punishments before ejecting Christian Life Academy’s Jason Briggs and assessing a technical foul apiece against Central Catholic’s Stefano Guarisco and Charlie Solar.
When play resumed, Christian Life began their run as Jacob Kabodi and Mitch Wilkerson each sank one of two free throws.
“Like I told our guys, I said really to me that hurt us more than them because they got a chance to shoot four free throws and get the ball,” Case said. “We were up 10 with I think a chance to put the game away but I thought we weathered it and did a good job of regaining our composure and played well from then on.”
Christian Life Academy coach Stephen Dale said the Crusaders thought the game would come down to the final few minutes.
“We knew, regardless of who took leads, it was going to come down to the last couple minutes, who could make enough plays at the end of the game to win,” he said. “Credit to Coach Case and them. They were able to make those plays at the end, make their free throws at the end to stretch out the lead and withstand our last run.”
While Central Catholic trailed 27-26 at the half, Christian Life came out in the second half and quickly extended its lead to 29-26 on two free throws by Kibodi with 7:29 remaining.
After Central Catholic’s Johnson picked up his third foul and went to the bench with 6:48 remaining, Christian Life extended its lead to 31-26 on a bucket by Ludovic Kader for a 31-26 lead, prompting a Central Catholic timeout.
However, Central Catholic soon came with a three-pointer by Paul to cut its deficit to 31-29 before Solar’s bucket off an assist by Guarisco tied the game at 31.
Central Catholic took the lead at 33-31 on a lay-in by Byrne on a drive to the bucket with less than 4 minutes remaining.
While Christian Life took the lead with seconds remaining in the third quarter on a dunk by Kader, Guarisco came down court and nailed a shot just past half court at the buzzer for a 37-35 Central Catholic lead they would not relinquish.
Central Catholic looked as if it would pull away with a 12-4 run to begin the fourth quarter before Christian Life came back at the end.
Early on, Christian Life took a 6-0 lead after two three-pointers by Kader.
By the end of the first quarter, though, Central Catholic had cut its deficit to 11-9.
While Christian Life extended its lead to 14-9 on a three-pointer by Sam Williams’ on the Crusaders’ opening possession of the second quarter, the Eagles’ cut their deficit with a trey by Paul and tied the contest at 14 on a bucket by Johnson with less than 6 minutes remaining.
Central Catholic took its first lead on a steal and layup by Solar.
The Eagles extended its lead to as much as 20-14 on a steal and lay-in by Guarisco before Christian Life came back behind its hot three-point shooting, using two treys by Williams to knot the game at 20.
Both teams shot well from the three-point range in the first half as Christian Life hit six three-pointers, while Central Catholic had four.
Christian Life, especially, cooled off from three-point range in the second half as they hit just two.
Central Catholic will return to action Tuesday when it travels to Lake Charles to face No. 7 seed Hamilton Christian, who advanced to the second round with a 96-68 victory at home Friday. Tuesday's game will begin at 6:30 p.m.