Rivals Purple Knights, ’Saders in familiar settings

    From the moment they raised the Class 5A basketball championship trophy last March, it was almost a “gimme” that St. Augustine would be back for more in 2012.
    For 2010 champion Brother Martin, few expected the Crusaders to return to the semifinals for the third consecutive year, but there they were, the crimson and old gold sharing the court with their Gentilly rival last week.
    Their journey through a difficult season differed in many ways, but the end result was familiar.
    St. Augustine returned all but one of the key players on that 2011 championship squad. I compared this team to the great Purple Knight teams in 1966, 1967, 1983, 1992, 1995, 1999 and 2004.    
    But this group is on the verge of doing something none of the past purples accomplished. They have the opportunity to win a state championship in different classes in back-to-back years.
    All they have to do is defeat Peabody of Alexandria, a team that has not lost a game since Dec. 30 and one sitting on a 33-1 record.
    It is well known throughout Louisiana prep circles that Class 4A is from top to bottom the strongest of the seven LHSAA classes.
    Some questioned if St. Augustine was up to facing top competition in this grouping.
The answer is a profound “yes,” considering the Purple Knights’ three losses in 37 games. One was a one-point loss to 5A Scotlandville, and the other two defeats were to out-of-state opponents. St. Aug also lost a practice game to Riverside Academy without its senior leader Javan Felix in the lineup.
    Clearly, Coach Clifford Barthe’s team has yet to lose to a Class 4A opponent.
    St. Aug was challenged throughout the season, but never more closely than O. Perry Walker’s charge in the semifinals last week.
    Having beaten the No. 14 Chargers twice before, the Knights knew they were bent on revenge. And it took a late surge to shake off the Algiers school, 47-44.
    The March 10 matchup between Peabody and the Knights at Louisiana Tech will be hotly contested. Both programs have been solid for decades. I can’t wait to see it.
 

Not given a chance
    Brother Martin was an afterthought to many pundits for most of the season, mainly because few felt that Coach Bill Gallagher could get the same intensity that the departed Scott Thompson did in 2010 when the Crusaders defeated favored Scotlandville for the 5A crown and again last year when he led them back to the Final Four.
    That feeling may have been fueled by 11 losses in the first half of this season.
    But Gallagher played a competitive schedule. The losses were to St. Aug twice, St. Thomas Aquinas (28-6 record), Christian Life (24-5), Salmen (22-3), East St. John (22-6) and Riverside (28-9).
    Did they fold? Are you kidding? The Crusaders played with resolve, nearly sweeping District 9-5A to win that title.
 It took nine weeks for the voting members of the Louisiana Sports Writers Association to give Martin consideration on its weekly Top 10 poll.
    The Crusaders went on to win 13 of their next 14 games. With defeat came learning. They turned around a humiliating 67-37 loss to East St. John into a 54-51 victory over that same team in the regional playoff round.
    As a No. 21 seed because of the many early losses, Brother Martin had to beat three higher-seeded opponents, including No. 12 Zachary, 57-53, and No. 4 West Monroe, 57-50, to gain a berth in the semifinals.
    But experience and size eventually caught up last week when 2011 Class 5A runner-up Scotlandville broke open a tight game in the second half to end the “Crusade,” 65-49.
    Five-time champion Brother Martin returns next year with three key vets in Jordan Cornish, Jabbar Singleton and Jalen Gray back in the fold.
    St. Aug loses five key players in Felix, Sydie London, Dion Taylor, Roland Daniels and Kris Raphael. Center Craig Victor and a promising junior varsity team will return for another title run.
    Ron Brocato can be reached at rbrocato@clarionherald.org.