So. Lafourche beats W. St. John, 52-39

One play in the South Lafourche Tarpons’ game against the West St. John Rams last week depicted the entire season up to this point.

With the score tied at 14, Tarpons’ senior Ryan LeDay stole the ball, passed it to fellow senior Wesley Rhodes who made one move and converted it into two points.

It was the same theme throughout the rest of the night as the Tarpons, with 23 points from Rhodes, pulled away with a 52-39 win.

For head coach Brian Callais, Rhodes’ performance was typical of what the senior has done all season and is one of the main reasons the Tarpons started the season off 11-0.

“He’s not a very vocal leader. He is going to lead by example on the court and the kids respond to him,” the coach said. “Wesley has been here for four years now, it’s his team. Hopefully he will continue to do good things for us.”

Callais added, “He is very unselfish, someone every coach loves having on his team.”

The Rams kept it close early on, tying the game at six with 4:45 to play in the first quarter. Both teams continued to trade baskets and the score was tied at 14 after the first quarter.

With the Tarpons up 18-16 with 6:05 to play in the second quarter, Rhodes scored six of the Tarpons’ next eight points, and they carried a 26-18 lead at the break.

“I didn’t think we were ready to play when we came out,” Callais said. “I don’t know if some of these kids were excited about the possibility of it snowing or what, but we weren’t ready to play. Once we settled down, I thought we did a good job of adjusting.”

The second-half adjustments worked, and behind a slew of Rams’ turnovers and 12 more points from Rhodes, the Tarpons expanded their lead. LeDay contributed 12 points to assist in the win.

“The last few games, we’ve been starting off a little slow,” Callais admitted. “We haven’t come out the way we need to. We have a few more games before district to get that corrected and come out ready to play.”

Earlier in the week, Rhodes led the team again with 14 points in just three quarters of play in the Tarpons’ 60-28 win over St. Charles Catholic.

Now, with non-district play winding down, Callais and the Tarpons find themselves with only a handful of non-district games left to prepare for district.

The Tarpons play this week at the Ellender Tournament, travel to Douglass on Dec. 23 and play in the East Ascension Tournament Dec. 26-30 to round out 2008.

The team plays 12 consecutive District 7-5A games to close out the season, beginning Jan. 6 at South Terrebonne.

This year’s district slate appears to be as competitive as ever, Callias said. But the reigning District Co-Champs aren’t ready to relinquish their crown just yet.

He believes that if his team can continue playing at a high level, then there is no reason for the Tarpons not to be in the hunt for the district title again.

“From top to bottom, this district is great. Every team brings something different to the table,” he said. “If you’re not ready on a Tuesday or Friday night, you’ll get beat. That’s what’s good about this district; it’s going to be a battle.”

He added, “We just have to stay focused and keep doing the things that we do. We have to keep working hard at practice every day. We can’t get caught up in the records. If we can do that, we can be competitive again in district.”