Eagles will travel to face Crescent City in first round

It’s been a tough year for the Central Catholic boys’ basketball team.
The team was hurt by injuries when three potential starters were lost during football season, and since basketball season began, the squad shrunk even further with more losses.
Despite all the adversity, the Eagles (11-14 overall, 9-5 in district) persevered and now find themselves as the No. 19 seed in the Class 1A playoffs, traveling to Metairie for the first round Friday to face No. 14 Crescent City Christian in the bi-district round.
“We’ve had stuff happen this season that has never happened as long as I’ve been coaching, and the kids have adjusted to everything and have found a way to get in the playoffs,” Central Catholic coach Ree Case said.
Despite the challenges, Case said he thought the season turned out well.
“We ended the season with eight kids,” he said. “We went through a stretch during the middle of the season where we lost eight or nine games in a row, but we had eight or nine different line ups.”
However, during the last two to three weeks of the season, the Eagles kept the same lineup and finished 8-2.
“I thought we finished strong,” Case said. “We got a lot better. We finished with eight guys, but eight guys that play hard, come to practice every day and work hard.”
Friday night’s opponent, Crescent City (18-10), finished fourth in District 8-1A with a 7-5 mark.
“I’m really impressed with them,” Case said. “Play hard. They got some good, quick guards. Got a big man in the middle. They’re in a tough district. They’ve played Covenant Christian, Houma Christian, Varnado. It’s a team we can beat, but a team
we’re going to have to play well to beat. If we don’t play well, we’re not going to win.”
Defensively, Case said Crescent City does various things.
“Defensively, they like to press a little bit,” he said. “More of a half-court, man-to-man team. Will trap you. Offensively, they try to get up and down. They want to push the ball. Our job is to slow’em down and make it into a halfcourt game, which we’ve done this year.”