BALDWIN — Jerald Hawkins scored 6 straight points early in the third quarter to help West St. Mary finally get some breathing room, and the Wolfpack pulled away late for a 48-32 win in the District 6-2A opener for both teams here Tuesday.

Before that it was anyone’s game, despite the Wolves’ big size advantage inside with Hawkins and fellow 6-foot-7 post player D’Andre Gabriel. Delcambre, which struggled to score from the floor and at the foul line, stubbornly hung around for the first three quarters, staying within a few points right up until about 51⁄2 minutes remained in the game.

That’s when Hawkins’ teammates began feeding him the ball in the low post for three easy turnaround baskets over a span of less than a minute that pushed a 29-24 lead to 35-24. The Panthers trimmed it back to 35-29 before Hawkins had a runaway, one-handed dunk, sparking a 13-2 run over the final 2:24.

“We were trying to front him (put a defender in front of Hawkins), and every time we’d get behind him, he’d just turn and get an easy shot,” said Delcambre coach Benny Dronet. “Not to get into coach-speak, but we weren’t resetting and stopping his progress when he’d turn. He’s primarily a right-handed shooter. If you reset to his left shoulder, you might even get a charge (call on his spin to the left).”

WSM coach Donald Sanders said that his team has struggled to pull away from teams all season long. Without a consistent outside shooting threat, opponents pack the middle with a zone to prevent the Wolfpack from getting the ball to Hawkins and Gabriel, who each sat for significant stretches with foul trouble.

“Until we can find that consistent shooter, or run our offense well enough to get it to the point where people aren’t packing the paint, we’re just not going to blow anybody out,” said Sanders.

Hawkins, who had come out of the game with a minute and a half to go in the third quarter after picking up two quick fouls, his third and fourth, re-entered with 6:08 to go in the game after Gabriel picked up his fourth foul. Hawkins quickly took control with his 6-point scoring spurt.

“That was just will, just being 6-foot-7 and 300 pounds and deciding nobody’s going to stop him,” said Sanders.

Hawkins led all scorers with 18 points, 10 in the fourth quarter. Glenn Marsh added 15 points, including a pair of 3-pointers.

Winston Linden and Danson Solomon, who fouled out about midway through the fourth quarter, each had 5 points in the first half for Delcambre, which had only 3 points in the first quarter, all on free throws, but trailed just 6-3 heading into the second period.

The Panthers scrapped for rebounds and loose balls, though, and took a 7-6 lead early in the second quarter on Solomon’s drive to the basket. DHS was within 18-15 with 43 seconds to go in the half before Keandre Jackson’s basket with a second to go made it a 20-15 WSM lead at the break.

Linden led Delcambre with 11 points and Solomon finished with 9.

“We missed way, way too many shots,” said Dronet. “(If) we shoot the ball a little better, we have a chance to stay in there. Give them credit, though. West St. Mary is a good basketball team. They’re very athletic.”

WSM was up by 8 points after a shot by Hawkins with 51⁄2 minutes to go in the third quarter, and led 27-22 heading into the fourth on a last-second shot by Gabriel, who finished with 6 points.

“We battled on the boards pretty well,” said Dronet. “We didn’t give up a whole lot of second shots until the fourth quarter. I’m proud of our effort. The guys put up a good fight. But we’ve got to be smarter. We have to execute the fundamentals of throwing and catching the ball a little better. We didn’t do a very good job of doing the little things right.”

Delcambre (0-1 in district) plays host to Loreauville on Friday. WSM (6-9, 1-0) is off Friday and plays at Loreauville on Tuesday.

West St. Mary 59, Delcambre 25

West St. Mary held an outmanned Delcambre squad to 4 points in each of the first three quarters to win the girls’ game Tuesday.

Ten players scored for WSM, while Delcambre had only six players dressed out, and one left with an ankle injury in the fourth quarter.

Myla Dapremont had 14 points, Amber Joe added 12, Kiristen Thomas had 9 and Gentrell Wells had 8 for the Lady Wolves.

Taylor Moneaux led Delcambre with 10 points. Tori Verret had 4 and Keely Broussard added 3.