WESTLAKE — St. Louis Catholic used its defense and slowed the pace of play on the offensive end to stop Westlake’s seven-game win streak Friday night.

“Westlake had a great start to the season, and we knew the guards were super talented,” St. Louis head coach Rob Acord said. “We thought that if it was an up and down pace, it wasn’t going to be in our favor. We tried to use our depth and wear out (Kevin) Rideau. He is such a good player. We were fortunate enough to contain him today.”

The Saints (9-6) won 34-27 to win back-to-back games for the first time since a five-game win streak in early December.

“I feel great,” Acord said about the Saints. “We knew we had five football players that contributed to this team, and there was going to be a rough patch.

“We set up the schedule pretty tough the first half of the season. We played some stiff competition and came out above .500. We are pleased with that, and now we head into district. This back half we are hopefully getting on a roll and moving up the ladder in the ranks.”

St. Louis held the Rams (9-4) to a season-low 27 points, half of their season average of 55.7 points. The Rams’ big three of Kevin Rideau, D.J. Garriet and Ryan Allen came into the game averaging over 10 points a game each but were held to a combined 14 points. Forward Avan Breaux led the Rams with seven points.

“We were not executing on the offensive end,” Westlake head coach Doug Morris said. “They (St. Louis) went to a diamond-and-one, boxing Kevin up. We struggled to score. When you play good on defense and hold somebody to 35, you expect to win. We have to get them to execute better.”

Instead of rushing to score, the Saints ate up large chunks of the clock throughout the game.

“At the end of the day, we have bought into the win ugly,” Acord said. “Ugly wins are better than pretty losses.

“My kids have bought into the pace and like it. They are comfortable in it. Whatever gets the job done.”

Westlake led 3-0 early, but the Saints closed the first quarter on a 13-2 run. Alex Goodwin, who led the Saints 10 points along with Clayton Blackledge, hit a 3-pointer with 5:05 left in the first quarter to give the Saints their first lead.

The Saints led by 10 at the end of the third quarter before the Rams got within seven twice in the fourth quarter on a putback by Ryan Allen and Breaux’s bucket with 2:32 left in the game.