When L.B.Landry point guard Darryl Adams picked up his third foul with a minute left before halftime and the Buccaneers trailing St. Augustine by three, it looked like things might go downhill.
However, Adams was there the rest of the game, scoring 24 points and being a big factor against St. Augustine's press, and the Buccaneers held off the Purple Knights 52-51 at Landry on Friday.
Even though it was an nondistrict game, the Buccaneers and their fans jumped in excitement after St. Augustine forward Cy Merritt missed a 20-foot jumper at the buzzer.
Landry is 9-10. St. Aug, which beat Brother Martin on Tuesday in its District 9-5A opener, is 17-3.
“Coach told me not to foul any more,” said Adams, a junior who has established himself as one of the better players in the area through the early part of the season. “I was just too aggressive. I wanted to win.”
The game came down to free-throw shooting. Landry was 19 of 26, with Adams going 14 of 18. St. Augustine was 7-of-17.
One of Adams' motivating factors is that he and Merritt played summer basketball together. St. Augustine coach Gerald Lewis said that was part of the problem.
“No disrespect to (Coach Rob Wallace) and Landry; they have a good team,” Lewis said. “But a couple of our guys and their guys play AAU together, and there was a lot of trash-talking. We got caught up in that, and we just were too undisciplined. We played terrible.”
Still St. Aug led from 2:17 of the second quarter, 19-18, until 2:28 of the fourth, when Adams made a floater in the lane that gave the Bucs a 50-49 lead. With 1:28 showing, Adams drove to the basket, only to pass to center Kayden Joseph for a layup and a 52-49 lead.
Merritt hit a 15-foot shot at 1:13 to bring the Knights to 52-51. St. Aug had the ball with 15.1 seconds left, and Merritt worked the clock down before dribbling left of the key and taking a shot that bounced off the rim.
“We just kept fighting,” Wallace said. “The big thing is that we had (Adams), and we spread the floor, and we played hard on defense. They had the lead for a long time, but we were right there all the while.”
St. Augustine led 28-22 after a wild, entertaining second quarter that saw the Purple Knights outscore the Buccaneers 17-4 in the last four minutes, 31 seconds of the quarter. That surge began after Landry had gone on a 10-1 burst in taking a 17-11 advantage.
St. Aug's stretch run was punctuated by three 3-pointers. Caliste sank one from the side at the 3:18 mark that brought the Knights to 18-13, and another from the top of the key gave them a 21-19 lead, St. Aug's first since 10-9 a minute into the second quarter. And, guard Turner Duncan's 3-pointer with 21.1 seconds left boosted the margin to 26-22.
The big surge was fueled by its press, which also led to two layups and a free-throw line jumper.
St. Augustine led 43-42 heading into the fourth.
Landry 52, St. Augustine 51
St. Augustine 10 18 15 8 - 51
Landry 7 15 20 10 - 52
SCORING: St. Augustine: Hubert Caliste 13, Cy Merritt 10, Josh Jackson 7, Turner Duncan 7, Jakobe Shepeard 6, Collin Jefferson 2.
Landry: Darryl Adams 24, Jarmal Smith 15, Kayden Joseph 7, Kristopher Griffin 4, Ryheem Jackson 3.