Information derived from CrescentCitySports.com.
It was a good two days on the campus of Brother Martin.
On Friday evening, the Crusader basketball moved above .500 with a victory over Archbishop Rummel.
Saturday afternoon, the powerhouse Brother Martin wrestling team won the Catholic League district championship.
On Saturday, Crusader Soccer shutout Grace King 3-0 at Farley Field, completing a season sweep of the Fighting Irish. The Crusaders downed Grace King 2-0 on Dec. 27.
Brother Martin scored two first half goals and added a goal in the second half to put the game away.
The Crusaders are fighting to try to get a first round home match in the playoffs. They were 18th in the most recent LHSAA power rankings but had a good week, tying Division II power East Jefferson 1-1, which will help that ranking. Grace King was 30th in the most recent power rankings. Playoff pairings will be announced later this week.
Bryce Kennedy, Dylan Nicolosi and Tyler Pregeant each scored a goal for Brother Martin (8-5-3). The Crusaders will conclude their regular season Tuesday at home against Acadiana at 6 pm while the Fighting Irish (7-6-5) will finish their regular season Tuesday at Hahnville at 6 pm.
For the Junior Varsity tournament, the first game against Terrebonne High School, Crusaders won 2-1 with both goals from Ali Cavdar, second game was against Hahnville High School winning 7-1 with goals from Mason Torregano-2, Andre Hoyuela-2, Marlon Urquia-1, George Dubuclet-1, Ben Bourgeois-1; and last game against Vandebilt was a tie 1-1 with the goal from Marlon Urquia to secure the tournament.
Brother Martin basketball defeated Archbishop Rummel Friday night at Bob Conlin Gymnasium, 51-41.
Current Crusaders head coach Chris Biehl, who does an excellent job, got the best of it this time around as Brother Martin downed the Raiders 51-41 to complete a two-game sweep of Rummel in district play. The Crusaders handled the Raider 53-34 on Jan. 2 in Metairie. Brother Martin has beaten Rummel seven straight times. In his seventh year, Biehl led Brother Martin to the Division I state championship game in 2017.
“It was nice to be back and see many familiar faces,” Thompson said. “Give Brother Martin credit. They played very well, played hard and played good defense. Coach Biehl does an outstanding job. They are a well-coached team that defended well and were tough physically.”
Brother Martin went on an 8-0 run in the opening quarter and led 13-7 at the end of the period. Javier Perez scored seven points for the Crusaders.
Brother Martin pulled out to a 17-7 lead in the second quarter before the Raiders cut the lead to 20-18 before the Crusaders led 22-18. Dillon Delatte had six points and four rebounds in the half for Brother Martin while Colby Barrois had six points and four rebounds for Rummel off the bench.
The Crusaders distanced themselves from the Raiders in the third quarter, outscoring Rummel 16-9 as T.J. Small scored seven points in the quarter.
Brother Martin was never threatened in the final quarter as Rummel got with seven points but could get no closer. Perez connected on five of six free throws in the quarter to help seal the deal.
“We hang our hat on our defense,” Biehl said. “We knew going in that we really had to do a good job defensively. They have been shooting the ball incredibly well in the last couple of games and I thought my boys really stepped up. Anything that Javy does offensively is a bonus. He doesn’t give up anything defensively. Our boys were more focused than usual after they had beaten St. Augustine.”
Small and Perez each had 12 points while Victor Tomlinson had 11 points off the bench for Brother Martin (13-14, 4-3). Corey Smooth led Rummel (8-19, 2-5) with nine points and seven rebounds before fouling out late in the fourth quarter while Dylan Delatte had eight points and six rebounds. Logan Diggs, Aaron Thomas and Kade Rivera each had seven points for the Raiders.
“We just came in and played hard,” Perez said. “They had a chip on their shoulder after they just beat St. Aug. They thought they were going to beat us but we weren’t going to let that happen. Smooth is a very good player. I had to stay low, watch his hips and deny him the ball. If we practice hard, rebound and box out, everything will go well.”
Thompson noted his past while embracing the present.
“I am very proud of our guys,” Thompson said. “We had some good looks and did not shoot it well but Martin is very long, very active. We competed hard to the end. We played with tremendous heart. We had great times here (Martin) but I love Archbishop Rummel,” Thompson said. “This is a great place and school and we will work extremely hard to bring a winner here.”
Both teams return to Catholic League play Tuesday with Brother Martin hosting Holy Cross while the Raiders travel to Jesuit. The Tigers beat Brother Martin 59-49 on Jan. 5 at Holy Cross. The Tigers are the district leader after winning 62-54 at St. Augustine tonight.
“Every game inside district is huge,” Biehl said. “Holy Cross is an elite team in the district. We did a good job defensively at their place but we left a lot of points out there, missing layups and free throws. They won’t be as easy to come by Tuesday night.”
Final BM 51, RUM 41
Scoring
BM—T.J. Small 12, Javier Perez 12, Victor Tomlinson 11, Dillon Delatte 8, Peter Schneller 6, Isaiah Torregano 2
RUM—Corey Smooth 9, Logan Diggs 7, Aaron Thomas 7, Kade Rivera 7, Colby Barrois 6, Jaelen Sturgis 5
Rebounds BM 26, RUM 26
Turnovers BM 13, RUM 12
Having won seven of the last eight Division I wrestling state championships, Brother Martin Wrestling has been dominant under Robbie Dauterive in his second stint as head coach of the Crusaders. It certainly appears that the dominance will continue at the 2019 state tournament.
The Crusaders tuned up for the state event by winning the Catholic League district championship meet at Bob Conlin Gynmasium Saturday with the finals live at CrescentCitySports.com.
Holy Cross won six individual titles, including Evan Frost (106), Jacob Frost (113), Brady Butler (152), Cameron Frost (170), Caden Mumme (182) and Logan Heffner (195).
Brother Martin had five individual winners, including Logan Bertot (120), Daniel Croy (132), Alex Duncan (138), Mason Massicot (160) and Kyle West (220).
Jesuit had three wrestlers win titles, including Luke Eccles (126), Colby Queyrouze (145) and Perry Ganci (285).
In the best title matches, Ganci remained unbeaten (34-0), pinning Mack Brown of Brother Martin in a showdown between defending state champions. Ganci won the Division I state title at 220 pounds in 2018 while Brown won state at 285 in Division I last year.
Eccles, who has been a state runner-up, upset a defending state champion in Michael Lundin of Holy Cross 6-5.
Butler edged Seth Alfonso of Brother Martin 3-2 while Heffner edged Cameron Frederick 4-3.
Scoring pins in the finals were Croy, Massicot, Cameron Frost, West and Ganci.
The state meet is in two weeks, Feb. 8-9 at CenturyLink Center in Bossier City.
In the junior varsity tournament, Brother Martin won nine of the 14 weight classes. Jesuit won the other four individual titles.
