Pirates rout scrappy St. Edmund 66-43

Despite a valiant effort by St. Edmund, the Kaplan Pirate boy’s basketball team was able to cruise to a 66-43 win Monday night.
Center Jalen Bates started the game with two big put-back dunks to set the tone for the game, and the Pirates maintained the lead despite St. Edmund cutting the deficit to nine in the third quarter.
“At the beginning I think we played pretty good, but then we got really sloppy,” said head coach Jeff Davis. “That’s the sloppiest we’ve played all year long. Our defense got better and we weathered the storm. When the lead got to nine, I started to get nervous, but then we kicked it up a notch.”
Kaplan earned a 15-point lead at haltime, but in the third quarter the Blue Jays crawled back into the game, but could not overcome Bates and the Pirates.
Bates scored 16 points to lead Kaplan and Joseph White added 15 points.
“I could have definitely played better,” Bates said. “I missed a some layups, but we scored 60 something points and we won. I just need to turn it up a bit.”
Other Kaplan scorers were: Kain Broussard (9), Hunter Stelly (8), Ryan Gratz (8), Dylan Touchet (4), Colt Hardee (2), Nathan Bertrand (2) and Javion Meaux (2).
John Guillory finished with 16 points to lead St. Edmund.
Other Blue Jay scorers were William Chachere (15), Collen Brown (4), Drew Brown (6) and Philippe Aguillard (1).
“That’s the most points we’ve scored all year,” Davis said. “It’s good to get a game like that going into the Yuletide Tournament.”
With the win, Kaplan’s record improves to 4-4, and they will take on the Vermilion Catholic Eagles on Saturday at 8:30 p.m. for the Yuletide Tournament.