Tuesday's St. Augustine-Bonnabel matchup in a Division I select regional playoff game carried intrigue because the Purple Knights had won at Bonnabel by four points in December.

This time, St. Augustine's length and quickness on defense made it difficult for the Bruins to play with any offensive consistency, as the Knights ran away with a 62-31 victory at St. Aug.

“When we played (Bonnabel) earlier this season, I knew we'd face them in the playoffs,” St. Augustine first-year coach Wade Mason Jr. said. “The first time we played them, we ran one offense and one defense. We were very, very vanilla. So, I felt our gimmicks would work.”

No. 4 seed St. Aug (27-4) alternated defenses and sent an extra defender to help out on Bruins guard Jeremiah Lucas, who was second-team all-state last season. On offense, the Knights used post-ups and back-door cuts along with an occasional 3-pointer to befuddle No. 13 Bonnabel (24-8), the District 10-5A champion.

The win is the sixth in a row for the Knights, who have won eight of its past nine games. St. Augustine, which had a bye in the bidistrict round, next will meet No. 5 seed Alexandria in the quarterfinals on Friday at St. Aug.

Mason said he took a look at Alexandria, which beat No. 21 Carencro on Monday.

“They have three good players — a big man, their point guard and another player,” Mason said.

Junior center/forward Ja'Verdes Brazile led the Knights with 13 points, sophomore point guard Aaron Miles scored 12 and senior guard Tye Williams had 10.

Defensively was where St. Aug made its mark, however, as no Bruin scored in double figures. Lucas was held to eight. Point guard Thomas Molette also scored eight.

St. Aug led 8-0 lead before Bruins guard Jordan Jarreau was credited with two points on a goal-tending call with 3:31 left in the first quarter. Bonnabel got within 11-7 at the 1:50 mark, but that's when the Knights took off.

From there, guard Khalil James sank a 3-pointer that started a 7-0 spurt, and St. Aug led 18-7 at the end of the first. The run reached 14-0 at the 4:47 mark of the second before Molette sank a free throw for the Bruins.

However, the Knights picked it back up from there and scored nine more points before another Bruins free throw ended the run. After the run reached 25-2, St. Augustine led 36-9 at halftime.

Bonnabel coach Micah Hagans said his team just couldn't make shots.

“We've seen that defense a lot of times — where our opponent brings a defender over to trap Jeremiah (Lucas),” Hagans said. “I tried to settle them down (in the second quarter). We were playing too fast. I think being on a bigger stage (playoffs) bothered some of our young players, but credit St. Aug for the job they did.”

St. Augustine led 49-18 at the end of the third.

This is the Knights' first time reaching the quarterfinals since 2021, the last time they won a state championship. Bonnabel also was trying to reach the quarterfinals for the first time since 2021.

Bonnabel: Jeremiah Lucas 8, Thomas Molette 8, Amery De La Rosa 7, Kenyon Harper Jr. 4, Charles Marquez 4.

St. Augustine: Ja'Verdes Brazile 13, Aaron Miles 12, Tye Williams 10, Jakobe Shepard 8, Brayden Boyd 8, Khalil Jones 5, Jaden Hughes 4, Kolbin Jefferson 2.