Pope John Paul II was in the midst of an epic scoring drought against Pearl River on Jan. 5.
Junior Andrew Hoff's free throws with 4:57 left in the third quarter snapped an 11-minute scoreless streak, giving the Jaguars the spark they needed.
Hoff added seven more points in the quarter as PJP II more than doubled its first-half output en route to a 59-40 victory during the Christian Tullis Tournament.
"We just started taking better care of the basketball in the second half and took advantage of our opportunities in the paint," PJP II coach Jay Carlin said. "We made an adjustment on offense and got some nice passes inside. When you score the basketball, this game is pretty simple, and we didn't do that in the second quarter."
The Jaguars led 15-9 after one quarter, but the Rebels held PJP II scoreless in the second quarter to take a 17-15 halftime lead. Pearl River stretched that lead to 21-15 before the Jaguars came storming back to build a 33-25 advantage after three quarters.
PJP II (11-6) opened the fourth quarter on a 15-6 run to put the game away.
Junior Nate Babin finished with a game-high 18 points, while Hoff scored 15. Senior Blake Nichols added 14 points, including three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter.
For Pearl River, sophomore Brayden Hutchinson had 17 points, with 13 coming in the first half. Junior Cameron Thibodeaux added eight.
Pearl River coach Dillon Smith said his team battled but couldn't find its scoring touch.
"I felt like we got a lot of shots that we wanted, and they just didn't go down," Smith said. "Coach Carlin had a great game plan to make us shoot over the top, and the shots weren't falling tonight. Proud of the effort tonight and over the last two weeks because we've gotten better, so we just have to keep fighting."
LAKESHORE FALLS TO BELLE CHASSE AT THE BUZZER: Kyle Reeves' put-back at the buzzer gave the Cardinals a thrilling 65-63 victory in the Christian Tullis Tournament.
Belle Chasse (12-7) has won five straight games, including a 55-53 win over PJP II less than 24 hours earlier.
The battle against Lakeshore came down to one thing — turnovers.
"We throw the ball to the other team too much," Lakeshore coach TK Kendall said. "Until we can correct our own mistakes, every game we play will be like this one. Until we start protecting the ball, we'll get results like this. This has plagued us all season, and we can't seem to correct it. We've just got to go to work."
Lakeshore (12-4) led 46-44 after three quarters, but the Cardinals opened the final quarter on an 8-3 run in the first two minutes that proved to be the difference.
The Cardinals held on to the lead until Owen Guth converted a 3-point play with 7.8 seconds left to tie the game at 63. Reeves' offensive rebound and put-back sealed the Belle Chasse victory.
Senior Kaden Vial led Lakeshore with a game-high 21 points, followed by Guth (18 points) and senior Caiden Bickham (17 points).
Reeves led the Cardinals with 20 points, while Jaylen Hughes-Ingram added 13. Bryce Louviere had 15 points, with 13 coming in the first half.