LAKE CHARLES, La. -The Brookhaven Panthers rebounded from asemifinals loss and finished third in the Bank One Classic. Theysmashed the host St. Louis Catholic Saints 78-36 Saturday night inthe third place game, powered by Fred Mackabee’s 14 points.

West Brook (12-6) of Beaumont, Texas, won the championship,beating Northside of Lafayette 88-80 in the title game, powered byGolden Corner’s 29 points. Ron Dallge had 25 points for Northside(19-3).

“We should have been in the finals,” said Brookhaven coachPreston Wilson. “We played well on the road, especially for theamount of time were there.”

The Panthers (17-4) arrived Wednesday afternoon. Their finalgame was Saturday night at 6:30. They arrived back in Brookhavenabout 2 a.m., Sunday.

Wilson said his players had to adjust to an aggressive, physicalstyle of play and few personal fouls were called by the officials.”Our guards aren’t that big and they really got manhandled,especially in the Northside game.”

Brookhaven lost 81-78 to Northside in Friday’s semifinals. MattFitzsimmons led the Panthers with 20 points.

Against St. Louis, the Panthers roared to a 38-16 halftime lead.They were up 52-24 entering the fourth quarter.

@Bbstandings:Brookhaven 78, St. Louis 36

Brookhaven (78) Fred Mackabee 14, Corey Bryant 6. Levi1, Dixon 4, Allen 1, Fitzsimmons 7, Washington 4, Brown 8,Middleton 5, Autman 8, Perkins 3, Hall 7, Smith 9.

St. Louis (36) Troy Aaron 22.

Brookhaven 18 20 14 26 -78

St. Louis, La. 8 8 8 12 – 36