First-half shooting woes doom Eagles in 61-46 loss

A cold shooting first-half was too much for Central Catholic to overcome as the Eagles fell 61-46 to Crescent City Baptist in Class 1A bi-district boys basketball playoff action Friday.
No. 19 Central Catholic struggled from the field in the first half, especially with layups and other shots near the goal, as No. 14 Crescent City built a 19-5 lead after a quarter and a 30-9 halftime advantage.
While the Eagles cut their deficit to as close as 58-46 in the fourth quarter via a long three-pointer by Elijah Swan with less than a minute remaining, Central Catholic could not complete a comeback attempt.
“We just played poorly offensively in the first half,” Central Catholic Coach Ree Case said. “We missed way too many easy shots. You score nine points in a half, it’s just so hard to overcome. We haven’t played that bad offensively in two months. I don’t know. I can’t explain it. Like I told them, if I had known what was going on, I would have fixed it, but it was just one of those nights.”
Crescent City scored the game’s first 13 points before Central Catholic’s Jalen Johnson broke the Eagles’ scoreless streak with a lay in with 3:07 remaining for a 13-2 deficit.
Central Catholic’s other first-quarter points came via a Brooks Thomas three-pointer just before the buzzer to cut Central Catholic’s first-quarter deficit to 19-5.
Crescent City coach Shaun Dumas said his squad was focused.
“The one thing I emphasize is that the guys just have to stay consistent,” Dumas said. “I have a young group full of sophomores, eighth-graders and ninth-graders (and) two juniors, and the biggest thing for ’em is just staying consistent. That’s been our pet peeve down the stretch, just staying consistent, and those guys kind of found a way to figure it out down the stretch.”
Things didn’t get much better for the Eagles to begin the second quarter. After Tanner Wiggins took the ball down the court and hit a bucket near the rim to make the score 19-7 early in the quarter, the Eagles struggled to make shots. Meanwhile, Crescent City continued to score.
While Johnson finally broke the Eagles’ scoring drought with a bucket with 1:17 remaining for a 27-9 deficit, Crescent City’s Byron Joshua hit a 3-pointer for a 30-9 halftime advantage.
In addition to cold shooting, turnovers hurt the Eagles in the first quarter as the Pios’ pressure got to them at times, and the home team was able to poke the ball away from Eagle ball handlers at other times.
“We (are) big on our defense translating to offense,” Dumas said.
The Eagles didn’t stay in the locker room long at halftime, and Case agreed there was not much he could tell his team, noting they were getting the looks at the basket they needed. They just simply were not finishing.
However, the Eagles did have to change their defensive philosophy because of the large deficit.
“We couldn’t play zone anymore,” Case said. “We had to start playing man. We had to start pressing. Stuff that we’re not built to do.”
However, he complimented his team’s effort in the second half.
The Eagles outscored Crescent City 37-31 in the second half, trailing 41-21 after three quarters before the 61-46 final.
Johnson led Central Catholic with 20 points. Other Central Catholic scorers included Blake Byrne, eight; Wiggins, six; Swan, five; Tyler O’Con, four; and Thomas, three.
Jonathon Vaughn led three Pios in double figures with 15 points. Terrence Smith added 13 points and Joshua had 12.
Crescent City (19-10) will travel to Baton Rouge to face No. 3 Southern Lab in second-round action. Southern Lab defeated Central Catholic’s District 7-1A rival, No. 30 Hanson Memorial, 93-47, in other first-round action Friday.
Central Catholic (11-15) will lose just one senior from this year’s squad, Tanner Wiggins.
“I just thank our one senior, Tanner Wiggins, for being our leader and coming out,” Case said. “He was the only senior that played, and I told the rest of the guys everybody else is back, so unless y’all want this feeling again, we got to get better.”