In front of an intense crowd at “The Birdcage”, Brother Martin (16-5, 1-0) opened district play with a 50-36 win over the Blue Jays. Jesuit took an early 6-0 lead, but the Crusaders switched to a full-court press and erased the deficit. The two teams would trade leads six times in the opening period. The Crusaders trailed 15-14 at the start of the second period before Brother Martin went on a run to open the lead.
The Crusaders opened the quarter with a 9-0 run led by Tre Swilling who came off the bench with seven points. The heavy defensive pressure kept Jesuit scoreless until 4:19 remaining in the half. The Crusaders out-scored their opponent 17-5 in the quarter and took a 31-20 lead at the half.
Luke Walker got things going for the Crusaders in the third frame scoring five straight points to keep the double-digit lead. Jesuit’s shooting struggles continued in the third quarter as they started the period with four consecutive misses. Brother Martin would end the third quarter up by 12 and never looked back while on their way to a 50-36 win.
For the Crusaders, Luke Walker led the team with 11 points. Jared West finished with nine, and both Venjie Wallis and Bruce Jordan-Swilling added eight.
Brother Martin returns to action on Friday against the defending district champion St. Augustine Purple Knights in the Conlin Gym. The 9th grade team starts off the action at 4:30 with the JV and Varsity to follow.
