West St. Mary High School headed into Friday night’s District 6-2A double-header at Catholic High looking for perfection for both the boys’ and girls’ basketball teams.

The Wolfpack achieved that goal, by different means, with both the boys and girls finishing 8-0 in league play to win the two district titles before the postgame celebration broke down into scuffles between first fans, then players (see related story, Page B2).

The WSM boys built a double-digit lead before halftime and were still up 10 with less than 21⁄2 minutes to play but had to hold off a Catholic High rally to squeeze out a 47-45 win. The girls trailed CHS by a point at halftime before a 9-0 run to start the second half sparked a 40-26 win.

West St. Mary boys’ coach Donald Sanders said his team held on “as usual.  Nothing was different about tonight than the previous seven.

“We absolutely, positively made it too close by missing free throws and having bad possessions. But I can’t complain. We’re 8-0. It’s a new season. It’s time for the playoffs.”

The Wolfpack had only two wins of greater than 4 points in district, with the other six coming by an average of 2.67 points per win.

So Friday’s close game wasn’t a surprise, though the manner of the finish was thrilling for fans on both sides.

CHS led 13-11 after one quarter behind Ryan Hebert’s 5 points and 4 apiece from Evan Hebert and David Butler.

The Wolfpacktook the lead on a 3-point play by D’Andre Gabriel 20 seconds into the second quarter and didn’t trail again, expanding that lead to 27-16 with under two minutes to go and going into halftime with a 29-20 advantage.

“The second game (between the teams) started like the first,” said CHS coach Ross Rix. “We were getting wide-open looks against their zone and just not making shots.”

The lead was as high as 12 points on two occasions in the third quarter and WSM was ahead 36-28 heading into the fourth, with the Wolfpack getting into the bonus at the free throw line with 51⁄2 minutes still on the clock.

But WSM missed six free throws in the fourth quarter, including the front end of a one-and-one and both ends of a double bonus, as CHS stormed back into the game.

The Panthers spread the scoring around in the fourth quarter, with Nick Geoffroy draining a pair of 3-pointers — the team’s first two of the game after several misses over the first three periods — in a 30-second span late in the game. The second trey pulled CHS to within 45-41. Butler’s putback of a missed shot following a steal by Rhett Gonsoulin made it 45-43 with 1:25 to go, and Butler hit two free throws with 1:07 remaining to tie the score at 45, ending a 10-0 CHS run.

“We started to get some stops defensively,” said Rix. “We started a little full-court pressure, which we don’t normally do. Geoffroy hit some shots and got us some momentum.”

The Panthers had to make their comeback without starting guard Evan Hebert, who injured the pinkie finger on his left (non-shooting) hand when he was called for a charge after running into WSM center Jerald Hawkins, a 6-foot-7, 285-pound LSU football signee.

Rix said he wasn’t sure of the severity of the injury, though Hebert did not re-enter the game following the apparent broken finger and was taken to the hospital following the game’s finish.

“That was tough, especially on senior night,” said Rix of Hebert having to miss the final 6:53 of the game. “He’s a warrior.”

The teams struggled on offense in the final minute. Hawkins hit one of two free throws after being fouled with 53 seconds to go. CHS called its last time out with 45 seconds on the clock, then missed a 3-point try with 40 seconds to go, rebounded the ball, then got another shot rejected by Hawkins.

The WSM center then converted the second of two free throws after being fouled with just under 26 seconds remaining to give the Wolfpack a 47-45 lead. CHS ran the clock down on its ensuing possession before a 3-point try was off target with a second remaining.

West St. Mary finished the night 11-for-22 at the foul line, including a 5-for-11 fourth quarter. CHS went 13-for-17 at the free throw line, but struggled from the field, both up close and beyond the 3-point line.

“We just weren’t making shots,” said Rix.

Glenn Marsh led West St. Mary with 24 points, including a pair of 3-pointers. Gabriel added 9 points and Hawkins had 8.

For the Panthers, Butler had 11 points and Ryan Hebert added 10. Evan Hebert had 7 points, Geoffroy and Tim Granger 6 each and Gonsoulin 5.

WSM finishes its district slate with a 13-9 overall record. CHS, which is 17-10 overall, finished 4-4 in district and will play Loreauville next week in a second-place tiebreaker. The Panthers are scheduled to play host to Ascension Episcopal on Monday, Rix said, and will likely play its tiebreaker on Wednesday at a neutral site.

“We don’t have anything set in stone yet,” said Rix.

West St. Mary 40, Catholic High 26

In another matchup of playoff-bound teams, WSM trailed 16-15 at halftime before dominating the second half.

West St. Mary (14-6, 8-0) built a double-digit lead by the end of the third quarter, outscoring CHS 15-2 in the third period to turn the game around.

“I knew this was going to be tough,” said WSM coach Edwin Colbert. “They stopped our inside game (in the first half). I think the turning point was our ability to keep bringing people off the bench. We just wore them down.”

Colbert said that switching to a combination defense with four players in a zone and one guarding Catholic High’s Lexi Landry man-to-man was critical.

“I think she’s going to be one of the best players in the district,” said Colbert of Landry.

Amber Joe led WSM with 12 points and was 6-for-7 at the foul line. Kiristen Thomas had 8 points, and four other players scored between 3 and 5 points each for the Wolfpack.

“I’m proud of our girls,” said Colbert. “We worked hard the last two years to get to this point.”

Landry led CHS with 9 points. Allison Legendre added 6 points, Kelsey Viator 5, Shelby Broussard 4 and Morgan Lahasky 2.

The Lady Panthers (10-14 overall) finished second in district, going 6-2 with only two losses to West St. Mary in league play.翿