Crusader Basketball

1910 - St. Aloysius Joins the Prep Basketball League

From the New Orleans Item, February 10, 1910.
ST. ALOYSIUS WILL JOIN LEAGUE
This Makes Fifth Member of Prep School Organization Which Will Start Season Soon.
St. Aloysius College has made application for admission into the Prep School Basketball League. They were expected to come in when the combination was first formed but had to stay out because they were not able to get the boys in line before it was organized. It is not yet too late, as the governing committee is willing to revise the schedule to fitone more team. A meeting will be held within the next few days and an entirely new schedule will be formed.
This is right in line with the new progressive movement among the preparatory schools of New Orleans. Five schools are now in and it will not be long before everyone in the city will be in the league. As soon as the basketball season is over, the officials of the league will get to work on an indoor baseball league, which will be the largest that the city has ever had. Eight teams are expected to come in and the schedule will have to be arranged so that only one game a week will be played instead of the two that they are now having in the basketball combination.

The other four members of the league were:

Boys' High (later renamed Warren Easton - still at its original location on Canal St.)
Jesuits (as the school was referred to in articles - located on Baronne St. next to Immaculate Conception Church)
Chenets (Chenet's Classical and Commercial Institute @ 1526 Carondelet St.)
Manual Training (Isidore Newman Manual Training School)

1909-10 was the first season in which backboards were used in basketball, which had been invented by James Naismith in 1891.

Newspaper coverage of the games was spotty, but several Aloysius games were reported. The following is the only one in which a box score was included.

March 16: Jesuits 30 St. Aloysius 15
Interest in the Prep School Basketball league championship series is growing warmer, the victory of the Jesuit College boys over St. Aloysius College yesterday sending the Jesuits a little closer to the Boys' High School league leaders though the Saints seem to be about out of the hunt, having dropped five straight.
Durel starred in yesterday's argument, shooting field goals, which would have proven enough to head the Jesuits' opponents. Brennan, Everett and St. Paul of the Jesuits also showed excellent form. Schoen, Theisen and Lagarde were the best boys of the defeated team, who lost by the largest score yet registered in a league game.

JESUITS				ST. ALOYSIUS
	Goals				Goals
	Field	Foul	Fouls		Field	Foul	Fouls
Tomes, c.	0	0	0	Schoen, c.	2	0	0
Brennan, f.	3	0	0	Theisen, f.	5	0	0
Durel, f.	8	2	1	Carrol, f.	0	1	0
Everett, g.	2	0	0	Lagarde, g.	0	0	0
Guidry, g.	0	0	1	O'Neill, g.	0	0	1
St. Paul, g.	1	0	0	Garcia, g.	0	0	0
Robin, g.	0	0	1	Charbonnet, g.	0	0	2
Totals	14	2	3	Totals	7	1	3
Referee: Romain

The Saints, as the Aloysians were called in that era before nicknames were prevalent, finished last in the league while Boys' High captured the crown. With only six graduates in 1910, Aloysius was a much smaller school than "High" and Jesuits.

Crusader Cagers Everywhere

Kirk Drake

Bobby Rehm

Sam Trombatore

Monday, December 20, and Wednesday, December 22, 1948, were busy evenings for the St. Aloysius Crusaders basketballers and former cagemen from the school.

First, Johnny Altobello's squad gave an indication of their strength by defeating the Loyola Wolfpups 44-32 in the first game of a doubleheader at the newly dedicated Lyons Center on Louisiana Avenue.
According to a young writer named Jerry Romig in the Times-Picayune: The high schoolers' amazing attack was paced by Hal Cervini, Dick Brennan and Jerry Peltier.
Hal led all scorers with 12 while Dick and Jerry added 11 each.
Kirk Drake ('48) played on the Loyola freshman team.
The victory over a college freshman team tipped off a dream season for the Crusaders, who went 18-0 on their way to the state AA championship.

The Loyola varsity included six former Crusaders in their 43-34 victory over Spring Hill.

Bill Treuting ('43) led the Wolfpack with 12 points. George Vila ('46) contributed 11.
Also on the team were Bobby Rehm ('43), Carl Lavie ('46), Warren Duncan ('47), and Lou Bravo ('48).

Two nights later, several former Aloysians played a pro basketball game in the same gym.

Sam Trombatore ('41) and Milton "Whitey" Jackson ('41) started for the New Orleans Sports against the Nashville Vols in a Southern Professional Basketball League game.
Unfortunately, the visitors spoiled the Sports' 3-0 home record with a 59-54 triumph. Trombatore tossed in 11, and Jackson canned 5.
The SPBL disbanded after the 1948-49 season, during which the Sports compiled a dismal 7-24 record.

The three games exemplified the depth of talent that cavorted on the hardwood for St. Aloysius in the 1940s.

Bill Treuting

George Vila

Whitey Jackson

St. Aloysius 1948-49 State Champions

First row: Clinton Hagans '50, Chris Ansel '51, "Red" Perret '50, Ed Bravo '51, Tony Capo '50, Jim Cronin '49
Standing: Ray Saucier '50, Dick Treuting '51, Jerry Peltier '49, Dick Brennan '51, Bob Chighizola, Hal Cervini '51

End of the Streak

29-year-old Johnny Altobello's 1949-50 St. Aloysius basketball Crusaders played like a well-oiled machine.

The defending city and state champions had won 39 straight Prep league games heading into their clash with the Fortier Tarpons Friday night, February 11.
The Crimson Knights had won all seven games in the first round, including the tight 38-35 opener over Fortier at the Aloysius gym.
To accommodate the expected large crowd, Fortier moved the game from their gym to Lyons Center on Louisiana Avenue.

Monk Clavier's quintet played a determined game.

Defense prevailed as Aloysius led by only 7-6 after the first period. The lead changed hands only once when Eddie Bravo connected on a foul shot. It would be the only time the Crusaders would lead at the end of a quarter.
The Knights continued on top until the middle of Q2 when the Tarpons took the lead and didn't relinquish it the rest of the evening.
The Fish led 14-12 at the half, 23-21 at the end of Q3, and 34-28 when the final horn sounded.

Fortier C Charlie Coates played the best game of his career.

Not only did he shine on defense, but he also sparked the offense with 11 points to lead the Tarpon scorers.
Speedy G Ralph Barnett's "uncanny dribbling" supplemented Coates's effort.
C Dickie Brennan single-handedly kept Aloysius in the game. He ended the evening with 19 points while the rest of the Crusaders scored only 9.
Bravo finished with 4, G Hal Cervini also had 4, and sub Arthur Franz added 1.

The defeat dropped Aloysius into a tie for first with the Holy Cross Tigers, who happened to be the Crusaders' next opponent.

The Knights prevailed in another game at Lyons, 38-32, to retake the lead.
They would breeze through the rest of the second round, an eight-point triumph over Jesuit being the closest call.
The result was the third straight undisputed Prep championship for Altobello's squad.

The Crusaders entered the state tournament in Hammond.

They knocked off Istrouma 54-47 and squeaked by Lafayette 45-43 to qualify for the finals against Baton Rouge High.
Led by a "six-foot-seven-inch young giant" named Bob Pettit, the Bulldogs prevailed 54-41 to break the stranglehold New Orleans had on the state title the previous nine seasons.

Dick Brennan ready for tipoff.

Baton Rouge coach Kenner Day and Bob Pettit

Ernie's Swan Song

The Catholic League employed a new scheduling system for the 1961-62 basketball season.

The five teams, De La Salle, Holy Cross, Jesuit, Redemptorist, and St. Aloysius, would play each other four times.
Each round would consist of a complete home-and-home round robin.

As usual, the highlight of the pre-district season was the annual CYO Tournament, which was held at the Tulane Gym.

Ernie Smith's sixth Crusader squad knocked off East Jefferson 63-30 and Redemptorist 50-43 to earn a spot in the finals against Jesuit.
Coming off the bench to replace the injured Gerry Brewer, Arnaud France blitzed the nets for 11 points to spark Aloysius's 59-51 victory. With SA leading only 44-43 after three quarters, Billy Deris and O.J. LaCour led a final surge that produced the school's sixth CYO title in the 11 years of the tournament.

After extending their record to 16-0 by winning their first three district games, the Saders lost to De La Salle 47-42. That started a three-game losing streak.

In their first game at Holy Cross's new gym, the Saints lost to the Tigers 41-40, then fell to the Blue Jays 57-53.
Victories over Redemptorist and De La Salle followed, but the Cavaliers still won the first round.

The second round began like the first with three victories.

But this time, the Crusaders edged the Cavs 51-50 at Loyola Field House when LaCour scored an amazing five points in four seconds.
Aloysius continued to win until De La Salle prevailed 53-35 to tie for the second round title.
So the two teams met two nights later for the district championship, Johnny Altobello's squad prevailing again at Loyola 58-44.
LaCour made the Times-Picayune first team All-Prep while Van Quigley and Deris made the second team.

As the state playoffs began, Aloysius received an invitation to compete in the National Catholic Basketball tournament in Washington D.C. March 23-25.

The invite came as a result of the excellent record the Crusaders had compiled under Ernie Smith.
However, the National Federation of High School Athletics in Chicago refused permission for the trip based on its guideline that teams not travel more than 300 miles round trip.

After pushing aside Nicholls in their first playoff game, the Crusaders traveled to Shreveport for the Final Four.

The Saints got off to a lightning start against Baton Rouge, shooting 57%. But the Bulldogs held SA to only two in the third period to take the lead.
LaCour sank two charity tosses with seconds remaining to send the game into OT.
Deris scored six of the ten points in the extra period to spark the 55-52 victory.

That set up the seventh game of the season against De La Salle.

The game was tight throughout, the Saints holding a 19-18 edge at halftime.
With 26 seconds left, DLS pulled ahead to stay for a 38-35 victory.
The Cavaliers won the title at the FT line, sinking 14 of 21 to the Crusaders' 3 of 11.
LaCour completed a trifecta by making the All-Catholic, All-Prep, and All-State teams.

After compiling a 151-23 record at Aloysius, Coach Smith left for St. Joseph College in Albuquerque NM, where he took a team that had been 1-22 the year before to a 15-5 record.

Gerry Brewer

Van Quigley

Billy Deris and O.J. Lacour

District Champs Again

When you outrebound the opposition 47-24, you generally win.

But that wasn't the case the night of February 20, 1979, when the Crusaders met St. Augustine for the District 11-AAAA championship.
Johnny Vitrano's third Brother Martin squad tied for the first round lead but lost the playoff to St. Aug. 65-63.
The Saders also fell into a tie for second round title when they lost to Chalmette 69-62 in OT in the final game. But they topped the Owls 62-61 two days later in the playoff when a last second shot from just inside the foul line bounced off the rim. Afterwards, Vitrano expressed relief. "I didn't know if it ever was going to come. We were 12-2 in district, had won 31 games and were probably the most consistent team, but had no playoff berth. Then, we have to fight to the last shot to win this one."

The Crusaders had begun the season as the district favorite, with All-district G Eric Alexander returning.

Vitrano told the Crusader, "This is the best group of kids, on an overall basis, I've had in three years."
He singled out 6' 6" senior C Mark Petteway. "Petteway is the best center I've ever had. He has the ability to be an All-District center. As for Alexander, he is the quickest I've ever had, and Rod Price [the other guard], the most aggressive."
Martin compiled a 19-2 pre-district record that included the championship of the Newman Tournament and a loss in the CYO Tournament final to Booker T. Washington.
The Crusaders earned a reputation as a team whose strong rebounding overcame some shooting and ball-handling deficiencies.

The 33-5 Saders were accustomed to tight, pressure-packed contests as they took the court at Tulane Gym for their fourth encounter with the Purple Knights, this one for the district championship.

The three previous meetings had been decided by six, three, and two points.
This clash followed the same script, with Martin leading by only two at the half 43-41.
After committing seven turnovers in the first half, the Crusaders reduced that number to three in the second 16 minutes.
After St. Aug. tied the game with a basket, Martin took control, scoring six consecutive points on a pair of baskets by Alexander and one by Roland McAllister.
Then Herbert Bryant, after going 0-for-4 from the field in the first half, hit two straight jumpers for a 53-45 advantage.
Twice more, Bryant scored after the Purple Knights trimmed the deficit to four points.
The Saders put the game away with 3:23 to go when FGs by McAllister and Petteway built a 71-61 lead.
The Crusaders made their fans nervous by missing a few FTs down the stretch but committed no turnovers.
The result was a 76-70 victory and the school's first District Championship since the Rick Robey days of the mid-70s.
For the game, Vitrano's boys hit 27 of 45 shots for a sizzling 60%. The second half tally was even better: 14-for-20 (70%). That allowed the Saders to take the crown despite being outrebounded by 23.
Alexander led all scorers with 26 with McAllister next for BM with 16 followed by Briant's 14 and Petteway's 12.
Cedric Bailey topped the Knights with 23 points while Leland Jiles contributed 18 points and 12 boards.
Vitrano after the game: "We've been making every game close, but in this one we opened up a little lead and held it. The key was the fact that we had very few turnovers. If you don't make turnovers against them, you can shoot layups against them. Then also, Bryant got hot in the third quarter. He hit a few baskets in a row to get us going."

The Crusaders won their first playoff game, a squeaker over East St. John 65-63, before losing, for the second time, to Booker T. Washington 61-55 to end a highly successful season.

Johnny Vitrano

Eric Alexander, who led BM with 19.1 ppg and 7.1 apg

Mark Petteway

Herbert Bryant

First Playoff Appearance in Eight Years

Coach Barry Dotson

Nicky Saacks

The 1994-95 Crusader basketball team made the state playoffs for the first time since 1987.

Fifth-year coach Barry Dotson finally experienced a winning season (15-12) although his 1991-92 squad broke even (15-15).
Brother Martin traveled to the West Bank for the 5A bi-district round against the John Ehret Patriots, who sported a 22-11 record.
The Crusaders jumped out to a 10-4 lead that ended on a 3-pointer by Kyle Albright. But Ehret ended Q1 with an 11-0 run to take the lead 15-10.
Martin gradually fell further behind through Q3, trailing 42-30 to begin to the final period.
At that point, Dotson called for full-court pressure. That strategy turned the tide. After a 19-11 run, the Crusaders trailed 53-49 with 2:41 left in the game.
Finally, a three-pointer by Al Clivens, who led all scorers with 21 points, tied the score at 56 with 0:53 left.
But Ehret retook the lead on a layup by Kenneth Forges with 44 seconds to go.
Nine seconds later, Nicky Saacks, a 6'8" sophomore, countered with a lay-in and was fouled. He hit the FT for a one-point lead.
The Crusaders managed to stop Ehret from scoring the rest of the way to secure the victory.
Dotson: We know that if you battle until the end, something good is going to happen, and you just have to work hard. We know what we shoot for the year, and we know that if things get bad, we just have to keep on pressing. ... I thought the key to the game was that we put some pressure on them.
Ehret coach Reggie Frilot agreed. We just didnt take care of the basketball.
The victory marked Martin's first playoff victory since since the 1982-83 season.

Brother Martin next hosted a regional round game against Warren Easton, which advanced by defeating Jesuit. Unfortunately, the Crusaders had the tables turned on them as the Eagles won on a last second foul shot 72-71.

1994-95 Crusaders

L-R: Pierre Gaudin, Al Clivens, David Liuzza, David Cassreino, Scott Miller, Nicky Saacks,
Matt LeBlanc, David Miller, Mario Lopez, Ashley Frank, Joshua Francis, Kyle Albright