ST. LOUIS, Mo. - The Jesuit Dallas basketball team split a pair of games on the road against a pair of St. Louis high schools. On Friday, the Rangers fell to De Smet Jesuit, 74-49, before bouncing back with a 61-43 win over Saint Louis University H.S. on Saturday.

On Friday, Jesuit committed 24 turnovers which led to 24 De Smet points. Pierce Popelka had 16 points and six rebounds, while Justin Fern scored 10 and Andrew Eakes added seven. Both Fern and Eakes made a pair of 3-pointers each.

Against the Junior Billikens on Saturday, the Rangers snapped a 4-game losing skid with a solid performance at SLUHS. 

SLUHS jumped ahead 5-0 before Jesuit scored the next seven for a 7-5 edge before taking an 11-8 lead after the opening eight minutes. Pierce Popelka scored Jesuit's final eight points in the second quarter to lift the Rangers to a 23-15 lead at the break.

The Blue and Gold extended the lead to 39-26 after three, led by 22 from Popelka at that point in the game. Justin Fern scored eight in the period for Jesuit. Stats were unavailable for the fourth quarter due to video difficulties.

Jesuit will be off for final exams next week before opening District 7-6A play at Lake Highlands on Friday, Dec. 19 at 7 p.m.