Coming off an unexpected loss against Shaw, Brother Martin (18-7, 3-2) had to make a statement. The Crusaders’ relentless defensive pressure, along with Tre’ Swilling, led to a huge 63-46 win over the Holy Cross Tigers on Tuesday night in the Conlin Gym.
With the win, Brother Martin, currently 10th in the LHSAA unofficial statewide 5A power rankings, keeps their hopes of a District 9-5A title alive.
In the first two minutes, Holy Cross jumped out to a 4-1 lead, but Brother Martin’s full court defense would pose a problem for the Tigers rendering them scoreless until 6:48 remaining in the second quarter when the Tigers broke a 20-0 Crusader run.
Forcing turnovers and repeated steals led to Brother Martin’s fast break, transition offense which opened up the game, resulting in a 19-4 first quarter lead and a 27-14 halftime lead for the Crusaders.
The Tigers tried to spark a comeback by going on an 8-4 run to cut the lead to 33-22, but Tre’ Swilling re-entered the game and quickly squashed what was left of a Tiger comeback scoring eight consecutive points. Swilling also hit two free throws with four minutes remaining in the game giving the Crusaders their largest lead of the night at 53-33. The Crusaders would control the pace of the game until the final buzzer.
Swilling led Brother Martin with 16 points, including 14 in the second half. Venjie Wallis added 13, and Travis Epps finished with 11 points, including three 3-pointers.
Brother Martin returns to action Friday night when they host the Jesuit Blue Jays in the Conlin Gym. The 9th grade team starts the action at 4:30 with the JV and Varsity to follow.
