December 14, 2023

Chat with Coach Biehl #1

by Brother Neal Golden, S.C. (CJ ’57)

"The Crusader basketball team is off to a 10-2 record for the 2023-24 season. The two losses came in the opening game against Carver (72-68) and to Jesuit (58-56) in the finals of the recent Brother Martin-Jesuit Catholic Tournament. Key wins have come against St. Paul’s (78-68), Landry (65-41), De La Salle (66-44), and Shaw (58-56).

Coach Chris Biehl says, “This is by far the toughest schedule we’ve had since I’ve been the coach. With good wins against good teams, we have the potential to be a Top Five seed going into the state playoffs. The only way to get there is to play as many good teams as possible.

“The next few weeks, every team we play will win between 25 and 30 games. Next week, we play Riverside. They’re traditionally very good. Then Madison Prep, arguably the best team in the state. Then the next day we play at Walker, one of the top five teams in the state.

“Then we go to the Sunkist Shootout at St. Thomas More in Lafayette. Of the 16 teams, 11 went to the final four in their division last year. 

“From the get-go, I’ve believed this is the type of team with the potential to go deep in the postseason. The way to get there is to test yourself, particularly in December.”

The most common starting five so far has been seniors Jordan West and Eli Pichon at guard, junior Hale Hankins and senior Kevin Marinello at forward, and junior Chase Chesser at center. 

“We have great depth, the best depth I’ve had since the state finals team. Freshman G Raphael Bickham has scored double digits the last two games. He might be our best on-ball defender.

“Another player who provides depth is junior F Jake Klein. He’s all hustle, can play two positions on offense and guard anybody on the other team. He’s a sneaky good athlete and a good finisher around the rim.

“Another player who fell in our lap is junior Jacob Parenti, who transferred from Fontainebleau. In his second game at Brother Martin, he made nine straight threes, which we assume is a school record. The team has responded well to him.

“Nolan Huguet was a starter last year, but he tore his ACL in the summer. We’re hoping to get him back before the season ends.”
Who are the top contenders in our district?

“St. Augustine is the team to beat until somebody beats them. They’re 11-0 right now and have the best player in the league, Turner Duncan, who will be a solid Division I player in college. They’ve won district the last two years.

“Jesuit just beat us. They’re gonna be good. Rummel has pretty much their entire team back. John Curtis is a question mark since they have a new coach. They now have football players who are extremely good athletes.

“Holy Cross lost just one senior from last year. They’re dealing with one of their best players getting hurt. Then there’s Karr. They’re never very good in November-December before the football players show up, but by February, they’re very good.”

Who will run the team?

“Jordan West. Pichon is probably a better player when he is at point guard than strong guard, but West thinks like a coach. He understands what I want, and I trust him. Pichon is a special player, and he can pretty much do everything. He’s so lightning quick. Certain nights we will let Pichon run point and West be our off guard depending on the matchups.”

The next game is Friday night against Bonnabel in the Conlin Gym. “They came out of the box beating everybody, but they’ve lost three games in a row. I don’t know if it’s an injury or what. They’ve got length, size, and a really good shooter.

“I really like my team this year, not to say I didn’t in years past. We’ve got depth, talent, scorers, bigs, and great chemistry. They genuinely like each other. Last year we had a good team, but depth was a problem. Injuries hurt us at the end of the season. This year, we’ve got 12 really good basketball players that are really good kids and good teammates.

“The night we beat Shaw, if you looked at the warmups, you would say there is no way we can beat them. But these kids are gritty. They’ve got the ‘it’ factor. They play for each other, they’re not selfish, and play really hard. You want your kids to be resilient and tough. We’ve got a long way to go, but we’ve got a chance to be one of the best teams I’ve ever coached. And I’m not just building them up.”

Be there Friday night so watch this exciting Crusader team beat Bonnabel!"

January 30, 2024

Chat with Coach Biehl #2

by Brother Neal Golden, S.C. (CJ ’57)

"The Brother Martin basketball team sported a 15-5 record as they began district play right after the New Year. Let’s review the first-round games as the Crusaders prepare to meet Jesuit Tuesday night in their second game of the second round:

January 2, 2024: @ St. Augustine

Unfortunately for the Crusaders, we sank only 13 of 28 from the charity stripe this game.

Led by Eli Pichon’s nine points, the Crimson and Gold jumped out to a 16-6 lead at the end of the first quarter. They increased their advantage to 18-6 to start the second period, but the Purple Knights ended the half on a 12-4 run that trimmed the lead to 22-18 at the break.

The game went back and forth in the second half until St. Augustine hit a 3-pointer to take a 46-44 lead with 1:17 left in the fourth quarter. Martin’s Chase Chesser scored a putback to tie the score with 43 seconds remaining. The Crusaders then missed two free throws with 6.7 seconds on the clock, and the game went into overtime.

The Purple Knights outscored the visitors 7-4 in overtime to win 53-48.

Coach Biehl weighed in: “When you look at the box score and you see that you left fifteen points at the free throw line, you usually know the outcome. We were up 18 in the first half after playing some of the best defense we’ve played all year. During the second half, I felt like we played not to lose, rather than to win. The players and coaching staff learned from that. We tried to stall the ball, and we weren’t very good at it. It helped to reevaluate where we were. There were certain situations that we hadn’t practiced enough. We left St. Augustine knowing that we had given one away, and we had a chip on our shoulder. We would get a second chance at them in the second round, so we had to move forward.

It was a tough one to swallow. Instead of a three or four-point lead, it’s a two-point game, and their player came down and made a turnaround, impossible shot, but he’s a Division I player and made a Division I shot and tied the game. They worked hard to make sure Pichon didn’t get a shot, but he missed both free throws which sent us into overtime.

We needed to get off to a quick start in overtime, but we got off to a terrible start. A turnover, layup, another turnover, another layup, and we’re down four.”

January 5, 2024: Holy Cross

The Crusaders played poorly in the first half but picked up the pace in the second half to win 67-51. The leading scorers were seniors Eli Pichon with 15 and Parker Dinsdale with 14.

“I felt the Tigers were young but dangerous. They’re similar to Curtis. They can beat anybody in the district, but I figured we’d have a good bounce-back game. We had good practices. We just played atrocious during the first half. We went into halftime tied at 22, and we were lucky it wasn’t worse. We hit some crucial shots right before halftime to tie it up.

At halftime, I felt like we had hit rock bottom. We weren’t playing as hard as we were capable of. If we don’t have high energy, we’re just ordinary. I didn’t yell, but I said, “Guys, we know we’re better than this, but we have to prove it.” This is not the type of team I have to yell at. They’re very mature. They know when we’re stinking it up, and they’re very coachable when you say tweak this, tweak that.

We didn’t make many adjustments against Holy Cross. We talked about tempo, to speed up the game. We talked about ball control and limiting turnovers.”

January 12, 2024: @Karr

The most talented team in the district defeated the Crusaders 60-50 in Algiers. Pichon again led the scorers but with just 10 while Jordan West added 8. 

Coach Biehl: “Karr is the only team that just came out and beat us. They’re incredibly gifted. They have at least seven seniors.”

January 13, 2024: Jesuit

The Crusaders and Blue Jays played a tight game until the beginning of the fourth quarter when Jesuit pulled out to a 9-point lead, but the Crusaders finally caught fire and outscored the visitors by 18 the rest of the way to win 60-51. Pichon topped the scoring with 21, and Dinsdale added 8.

Coach Biehl: “Playing back-to-back nights, we didn’t play good basketball, but we played very hard. We made a couple of adjustments at halftime. In the fourth quarter, our defense really stepped up. I was very pleased with the way we played.”

January 19, 2024: Rummel

Brother Martin started strong and led by more than 30 points at halftime. After the break, the Crusaders got sloppy and the Raiders gradually whittled the lead until it shrank to just seven in the last two minutes. Fortunately, the Saders sank free throws the rest of the way to win 66-56. 

Dinsdale and senior Kevin Marinello led the Crimson offense with 15 and 13 points respectively.

“I don’t want to use the word ‘relax,’ but we got careless. It was a little bit of me challenging them. That was a big win because we had lost too many games this season in that scenario. That was a good win for us,” says Biehl.

January 24, 2024: @Curtis

This was one of the strangest nights of basketball in Brother Martin history. The junior varsity game was completed when a broken main caused a water emergency in Jefferson Parish and forced the varsity game to be moved to the next night.

Curtis led 33-27 at the half and 43-39 after three quarters. The contest wasn’t decided until the last 30 seconds.

Marinello scored eight straight points in a 14-4 run that put the Crusaders ahead 55-51 with little time remaining. But Curtis cut the lead to one when freshman Zaveon Shepherd made his seventh 3-pointer to give him 24 points for the evening. 

The outcome looked bleak for the Crusaders when they committed a turnover and sophomore Autrail Manning sank two free throws for a 56-55 lead with 21 seconds left.

The Crusaders got the ball past midcourt and tried to set up the winning shot. After Curtis knocked the ball out of bounds, the clock read 0:09.

“Most coaches would call timeout in that situation,” said Coach Biehl. “I had four seniors out there on the floor. We just wanted to trust them. It’s something we practice, those scenarios.”

The hoped-for winning shot missed, but Pichon rebounded the ball and sank the basket with two seconds remaining to win 57-56. The Patriots’ desperation shot just inside half-court missed.

“The one thing we emphasize to our kids,” said Biehl, “is that if it’s the final shot, don’t get back. Go crashing the glass. Of all people, Pichon is in the right place, the smallest kid on the court (6’1”).”

Dinsdale and West shared high-scoring honors with 10 each.

“We didn’t have our best stuff that night. I felt like they were in control. We played their style of basketball almost the whole game. We managed to keep it close. When we went into halftime, we made minor adjustments, less than usual. We told them, 'We’ve got to control tempo.' We did a better job of that, but honestly, we kinda stole that one. We didn’t play great basketball. At the end of the game, we got some critical stops. They didn’t score in their last five possessions. At the very end of the game, Hale Hankins took a tough shot and got an airball. I think the Curtis kid got the rebound, but when it didn’t hit the rim, it made him go up awkwardly. I think he really didn’t have full possession. So Pichon comes up with the ball out of nowhere and puts it in.”

January 26, 2024: St. Augustine (first game of the second round)

St. Augustine scored the first basket of the game, but that was the only lead they enjoyed the entire 32 minutes. The Crusaders won 60-46 behind 16 points from Dinsdale and Marinello’s 12.

“The boys felt like we gave one away against St. Augustine the first round. We came out a little tentative on offense, but defensively I liked the tempo of the game.”

The Crusaders travel to Jesuit Tuesday night for the second-round rematch. The Conlin Crazies need to be there in force to help the Saders stay tied for first place."

Crescent City Sports will livestream our game tonight versus Jesuit, which you can watch at http://crescentcitysports.com/live-game-streams/ 

February 23, 2024

Chat with Coach Biehl #4

by Brother Neal Golden, S.C. (CJ ’57)

"The Crusaders’ three-game losing streak reached five before they defeated Curtis 59-53 at home last Friday night in the final district game of the season. Eli Pichon led the scoring with 17 points, and Chase Chesser added 14, his second highest output for the season. As a result, the Saders finished the two rounds of district play 6-6.

Prior to the Curtis game, Brother Martin lost to St. Charles Borromeo, an excellent Division III Select team that ranked sixth in the final power standings. Playing without ailing senior forward Parker Dinsdale for the second straight game, the Crusaders faded down the stretch to lose 61-55.

The 19-12 Crimson fell to the #11 spot in the Division I Select final rankings. They will host #22 Woodlawn of Baton Rouge Friday night in the first round of the playoffs. If the Crusaders win, they must travel to Shreveport to play #7 Southwood in Shreveport next week.

Coach Chris Biehl on the St. Charles game: “Unfortunately, that was the peak of when we were fighting the flu bug. We were down two or three starters, and even a couple of the boys who did play shouldn’t have. Looking at the film, we felt like we could pound the ball inside, but a couple of our taller kids weren’t able to play. I felt like we fought that game with one hand tied behind our back.”

On the Rummel game: “Similar story to St. Charles. Our kids were very lethargic. I’m not trying to make excuses, but even when they came back from being sick, they lacked energy. That night, we had opportunities to make some easy baskets. Everything came up short. We missed five, six, or seven layup opportunities. We didn’t shoot free throws really well. The Rummel team had a ton of energy.”

On the Curtis game: “That was our get-ourselves-right game. Our strength is on the defensive end where we’re very cohesive. On offense, our strengths are quickness and offensive rebounding. And one of the weaknesses of Curtis is offensive rebounding. Chase Chesser had 16 rebounds. That was good to see because he had been out sick. We needed that. But at the end of the day, we still weren’t where we need to be physically. We’re not the same team we were at the beginning of the year. Most of that has to do with that illness.”

On facing Woodlawn: “We did not get a favorable draw in the first round. We’re playing an impressive Woodlawn Baton Rouge team. We know them well at this point because we’ve been watching film on them for three or four days. They’re impressive. They’re long. They feature a 6’8” center who is extremely talented. He can score at two levels, midrange game and finish inside. It’s unstoppable. When he makes certain shots, don’t foul him.

“Woodlawn has a 6’6” kid who can play inside and out. They have a 6’4” kid and come off the bench with a 6’5”. Length is going to be an issue. My biggest concern is that Parker Dinsdale will not play in the game. He’s been out with a badly sprained ankle. I think he’s the glue to this team. So I’m very concerned about who’s going to fill that void. 

“Woodlawn’s record isn’t fantastic, but they’ve played a tough schedule. They finished the season with a double-digit win over Scotlandville, and that’s impressive. We’re going to have to click on a lot of cylinders to advance.”

“We’re starting to get the kids’ energy back to where it was. At this time of the season, it’s physical and mental fatigue anyway. We’ve played 32 games. It’s been a grueling four months. The kids are tired, and on top of it, you get ill. 

“We’ve rested legs a little more in practice this week to give them every opportunity to be at full speed Friday night.”

The Conlin Crazies need to come out in full force Friday night to help our Crusaders pull out the victory."

March 4, 2024

Chat with Coach Biehl #5

by Brother Neal Golden, S.C. (CJ ’57)

"Brother Martin, the #11 seed, started the Division I Select playoffs last Friday night with a solid 61-42 home victory over #22 Woodlawn of Baton Rouge. 

Senior G Eli Pichon set the tone in the first 30 seconds when he sank the first of three straight three-point baskets to spark the Crusaders to a 13-0 start that soon reached 18-2. Woodlawn made a small spurt to end the quarter only 12 behind at 20-8.

The Panthers outscored the home team 10-6 in the second period to trim the lead to 26-18 only to have the Crusaders win the third quarter 15-11 to regain the 12-point lead 41-29.

Any hope the Panthers had of coming from behind was erased by a 20-13 advantage for the Crusaders in the final period.

Pichon led all scorers with 28 points, almost half the Saders’ points. The only other Crusader in double figures was junior G Hale Hankins with 10.

The taller Panthers outrebounded the home team just 29-26 but committed 22 turnovers to Martin’s 15. 

Coach Chris Biehl: “It felt like we were really well prepared. The coaching staff had a week to look at film, and the players had four or five days to rest their legs to come out and regain the magic we played with early in the year. We had a lot of energy. The kids had a look in their eyes like they were ready to go before the game. 

“I was worried about Woodlawn’s size. They were bigger than us at every position. We felt like we knew their offense pretty well, and we had a good idea of what they would do defensively. If you give our team and coaches that much time to prepare for an opponent, we will probably win more of them than not. Eli really came out and played very good basketball. Chase Chesser was challenged to shut down their big man, and for the most part he did.

“I thought the defense we played, particularly in the second half, was back to where we were. It was a good way to end our season in the Conlin Gym.”

Woodlawn coach Stefson Arnold said, “We came in wanting to value the basketball, but we turned it over too many times. You can’t do that against a team like them. They were the better team tonight. Our big guys didn’t give us enough. We wanted to work the ball inside, but their backside help was too good.”

The Crusaders traveled to Shreveport for their second round game against the #6 seed Southwood Cowboys who won 23 of their 31 games during the regular season.

“We had five films on them. We got the film on Saturday and came in on Monday. We did everything in our power to teach the boys what to do, but we really had only one day of prep. We did stop at LSU Shreveport for a 45-minute shootaround. You’re more worried as a coach about getting their cramped legs off the bus and getting them sweating. The last thing you want to do is walk off the bus and play the game and take a half hour to get going.

“They had a young man named Jeremiah Evans who’s one of the top players in the state. He’s 6’8” with some real basketball skills. He was averaging 29 points a game, but we held him to 18 points.”

The Crusaders again played without senior F Parker Dinsdale, who had been out with a sprained ankle. 

Neither team led by more than four points in a sloppy first quarter that ended with Jordan West sinking a jump shot at the buzzer to put the Crusaders ahead 17-14.

Martin led at the half 31-29 and, after an 11-11 third quarter, 42-40 heading into the final period. With 6:02 remaining, the game was tied 46-46. In the next 2:11 of playing time, the Cowboys went on a 10-0 run. 

“We got the deficit down to three in the last minute, and they were shooting a one-and-one foul shot. He missed the shot, and we got the rebound, but an official called a questionable blocking foul on Kevin Marinello.”

The Cowboys were able to hang onto the lead to win 61-56. 

Southwood coach Brandon Gultery on the victory: “We found ways to finish the game. It was a nice team win from our guys.”

If it’s any consolation to the Crusaders, Southwood upset #3 Captain Shreve, their crosstown rival, 40-39 on a three pointer at the buzzer Friday night. Southwood will play in the semifinals for the first time since 2002."

Link to Shreveport Times photos of the game: https://www.shreveporttimes.com/picture-gallery/sports/2024/02/28/lhsaa-state-playoff/72770432007/"