Bossier boys claim another tourney title

By Kelly Morris • kmorris4@gannett.com

The Bossier Bearkats have another tournament title to their name.


The Bearkats rolled past Fair Park 63-41 in the championship of the Parkway Tournament on Saturday. Devonte Francis(pictured right) had a game-high 22 points and teammate Lyndale James added 11 points. Bossier piled on 22 points in the fourth quarter and had nine 3-pointers in the game. Francis finished with five 3-pointers.

LOYOLA 71, WASKOM 52

The Flyers won the Waskom Tournament with a 71-52 over host Waskom on Saturday. Loyola cruised from the start with 20 points in the first quarter. The Lady Flyers also added 20 more points in the fourth quarter.

Loyola was lead by Josh Bates’ 21 points. Lavar Washington (18) and Justin Harris (15) also finished with double digits.

MINDEN 60, CALVARY 52

Minden defeated Calvary in the championship game of the Calvary Tournament on Saturday. Minden was lead by T.J. Lewis’ team-high 13 points. Calvary had no players in double digits.


GREEN OAKS 63, MANSFIELD 41

Sparked by a 19-point first quarter, the Giants cruised to a win over Mansfield on Saturday. Green Oaks finishes third in the Parkway Tournament with the win.

Courtesy of the Shreveport Times

Ready to roar: A look at the Ouachita Lions basketball team

Antonio Landers is one of the few remaining
contributors from last year’s title-winning team

By Keith Prince • kprince@thenewsstar.com

Ouachita coach Casey Jones has never been one to rest on laurels — even though he has plenty upon which he could rest — and the Lions are jumping right back into the fray despite losing most of their headliners from last year’s state championship team.

Jones says fans should know that his young Lions won’t go 39-4 again this year, but he definitely isn’t giving up on putting up a gallant fight to defend their 5A state title.

Ouachita actually knows nothing but success under Jones, who has led the Lions to district championships in all eight of his seasons as the head coach and was also an assistant coach for five other district crowns.

How well can the Lions do after losing so much talent across the roster? The departed include MVP Nick Haywood (now at the University of Houston), high-jumping Jeremie Mitchell (McNeese), 6-4 post Mike Shaw and speedy guard Henry Sidney (both now at Wood Junior College in Illinois).

Ouachita is off and running at 8-3 going into tonight’s home game against Richwood and Jones says his kids “are beginning to understand how to play at the high level we need.”

Talented Antonio Landers is the one returning headliner from last year and the 6-2 guard is “accepting the leadership role we need from him” while averaging 21.9 points and 10.9 rebounds.

“Last year Antonio could just go play but now he is in a different, more vocal role. He knows I expect and need more from him and he’s playing well,” Jones said.

Forward Ryan Gix, a 6-3 sophomore, is contributing 10.7 points and leads in rebounds at 12.6. “He has the most experience of our kids other than Antonio and he is developing quickly into a leader, too.”

Second forward Sam Williams, also a 6-3 sophomore, “is probably our most gifted player. He’s still raw but he has the most tools with his quickness, ball handling skills and offensive potential. He needs to get stronger and tougher around the basket to become the complete player that he can be,” Jones said.

Joining Landers in the other two guard slots are 5-11 junior Cedric Treadway and 5-11 junior Dee Leonard, who transferred over from Wossman this year.

Treadway played very little varsity ball last year but is an outstanding shooter. “He just needs to understand that he must defend to stay on the floor, and I can see improvement in that area, so I look for him to have a solid season.”

Leonard “has great quickness and court vision. He’s a tremendous passer but is having to change his mentality from shooter to floor general. I still want him to be aggressive with the ball but his first priority is getting everybody else involved in the offense.”

Jones is also expecting big things from his sixth man, 6-2 junior Malik Richard.

“I call him my do-everything-guy because he is capable of coming in at guard or forward and making an impact. He can be an enforcer for us and I like being able to bring his firepower off the bench,” Jones said. “I really like this group. Our schedule is very tough and our district will be very competitive.”

“But as our chemistry develops and everybody learns their roles, we can become a very good team. It will be interesting to see this group grow and mature.”

Courtesy of the News Star

Richwood boys off to slow start, but should pick up steam

By Keith Prince • kprince@thenewsstar.com

Beware of the slow moving Ram – Because it always picks up speed as the prep basketball season moves along.


The Rams of Richwood won just two of their first six games to open the current campaign, but coach Terry Martin isn’t alarmed.

In fact, the coach of the defending 3A state champs isn’t even surprised.

"This year is like always because some of our guys are in football through most of November," he said. "This year we have even more than usual (12) who played football, so we are have only had them the past 10 days."

By playoff time, Martin’s Rams, who defeated Vidalia 75-61 in the state championship game last March, will likely right back in the thick of the title chase again thanks to the presence of 6-7 all-state returnee LaDon Carter, several other veterans and some promising newcomers.

Already nominated for the McDonald’s All-American team, Carter is definitely one of the state’ premier players thanks to a smooth, fluid style that allows him to run the floor, shoot from anywhere and also be a force inside with his rebounding and shot-blocking abilities.

"We’ve had some good big people and LaDon is certainly up there with the best of them," said Martin. "He’s a big time player and he is working hard. We need him to help lead this team to reach the level we are capable of."

Carter led the Rams in scoring last year with 17.8 points per game.

Marceis Davis, a 6-3 senior, is another returning standout who contributed 14.2 points per game last year. He is also one of the many football players who is now working to get into basketball shape.

""Marceis is an all-around player who helps us in a lot of ways. He’s a true scorer inside and outside and when he gets back in the flow of basketball he will be one of our best," said Martin.

Senior LaDarrin Williams (6-6) and junior D’Andre Martin (6-5) also return and will be big contributors this year.

Others who will vying for plenty of playing time in Martin’s 8-10 man rotation include Anthony Abraham, Jamal Dial, Michael Hunter, Rakim Lumpkins, Akeem Ceasar, Lamaktris Alexander and Chad Clay.

"Right now it is difficult to read this group, because we have had so many coming in late from football. But there’s a lot of talent here and we should become a good, solid team. It really depends on chemistry and everybody working together to fit the pieces together," said Martin.

The Rams are again hitting the road for out-of-state tournaments during the Christmas break, first playing in Las Vegas Dec. 16-20 and then going to Orlando, Fla., for a Dec. 26-30 event.

"The competition is also outstanding and traveling like this is a good opportunity for our team to come together on an off the court," believes Martin.

Courtesy of the News Star in Monroe

Ellender pulls away in second half to beat Terrebonne

Trevon Lewis led Ellender with 28 points

HOUMA — The weather outside may have been frightful, but Ellender’s high-powered offense was quite a delight to the Patriots and their fans.


Trevon Lewis scored 28 points, Dylan Parfait added 13, and Ellender (11-2) seized control of a close game at halftime to pull away from Terrebonne (4-7) for an 82-69 victory in non-district play Monday.

With area thunderstorms causing heavy thunder and lightning outside throughout the evening, the Patriots and Tigers provided their own electricity inside.

Monday’s contest had the feel of a playoff game right from the start with neither team able to break away in the beginning, and fans from both schools on their feet early.

Jerrod Brown’s 3-pointer midway through the first quarter got the home crowd fired up and gave Terrebonne a 13-9 lead.

Ellender would control the rest of the first quarter, though, scoring 14 of the game’s next 19 points to take a 23-18 lead toward the end of the period.

In the second quarter, with the game tied at 29, Ellender again found its rhythm and with 5:15 to play before halftime, Parfait’s 3-pointer bumped the Patriots’ lead back to five at 34-29 — part of a 7-0 Ellender run that Parfait later finished off with a layup.

Lewis’ own layup with two minutes to play in the half gave Ellender its largest lead of the first half at 45-37. In the second half, the Patriots slowly began to pull away, taking an 11-point lead by the end of the third quarter, 62-51.

Ellender led by as many as 17 in the final period, and Patriots coach Scott Gauthreaux said that halftime adjustments paved the way for his team in the second half.

“I was disappointed giving up 41 points in the first half,” Gauthreaux said. “We’ve been doing a good job defensively the whole year. A lot of it (Monday) had to do with the style of play. We tried to force the tempo and wear them down in the first quarter.”

But it was missed opportunities — including many on those very second-chance shots — that stood out for Terrebonne, Tigers coach Byron McPherson said.

“We went down and were taking bad shots,” McPherson said. “They weren’t falling and we weren’t getting back on defense. And too many fouls. That was the key. We missed shots and then we came back and fouled and sent them to the free-throw line.”

Roy Williams led Terrebonne with 18 points and Brown contributed with 16 points. Devon Austin added 15 points. Houston Chatman finished with 12 points for Ellender.

CENTRAL LAFOURCHE 68, DESTREHAN 65 (BOYS)


At Mathews, Terrell Folse scored 26 points to lead the Trojans to a nondistrict win on Monday. Reandell Poindexter chipped in 16 points, and Carr Coleman added 12 for Central Lafourche.

Courtesy of the Daily Comet

Houma Area Prep basketball report

GAMES OF THE WEEK


On the boys side, district play is still several weeks away, but several teams will be competing in the 2009 MidSouth Bank Classic at Ellender. The tournament, which begins on Thursday, features Ellender, Assumption, South Lafourche, Terrrebonne, South Terrebonne and H.L. Bourgeois.

BOYS TEAM OF THE WEEK

The Ellender Patriots have started the season on a roll by winning 10 of their first 12 games of the season. Ellender heads into this week’s 2009 MidSouth Bank Classic with some momentum after posting a 3-0 record at H.L. Bourgeois’ Casey Kozminski Memorial Tournament.

STARS OF THE WEEK

Thibodaux’s Shavon Coleman scored a game-high 40 points in Tuesday’s 59-45 win over Patterson. Coleman also recently signed a national letter-of-intent to play at Louisiana-Monroe.

Vandebilt Catholic’s Theresa Plaisance was named the Most Valuable Player of the St. Charles Catholic Shootout after scoring 32 points against Thibodaux in the championship game.

Ellender’s Trevon Lewis scored a game-high 41 points to lead the Patriots to a 75-65 win over Terrebonne at Friday night’s Casey Kozminski Memorial Tournament.
E.D. White Catholic’s Lauren Bayhi was named the Most Valuable Player of the Cabrini Tournament after leading the Lady Cardinals to a 50-36 win over Ben Franklin in the championship game. She scored 12 points in the championship game.

BY THE NUMBERS

3 — Number of times Ellender and Terrebonne played in the past eight days. The Patriots defeated the Tigers on Dec. 7 and Friday, and the two teams are scheduled to play again tonight at Terrebonne.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“Our guys did a good job of getting Trevon the ball in the post. He was making strong moves, getting ‘and 1s’ or shooting two free throws. When he’s on a roll, we’ve got to get him the ball.” — Ellender coach Scott Gauthreaux said about Trevon Lewis’ 41-point performance on Friday night against Terrebonne.

Courtesy of the Daily Comet

Lakeside Warriors fall to Bulldogs

DOYLINE—The Lakeside Warriors fell to Red River, 63-51, in the Doyline Tournament Friday night.


Red River jumped out to an early lead in the game, but Lakeside fought back to narrow the gap. But the Bulldogs used a big fourth quarter to put the game away.

“They jumped on us early and led 7-0 before we knew it,” Lakeside head coach Jason Gould said. “They got on us pretty hard at the beginning, but we recovered and cut the lead to six by the end of the first quarter.”

The two teams played to a standstill in the second quarter,and Red River went to the locker room with a 47-41 lead at the half.

“We out-scored them by one in the third quarter, but they just had too much for us in the fourth,” Gould said. “They worked on their miss-matches on offense and really took advantage of that. They were really quick and forced us into a number of turnovers. Our young guards really struggled with their quickness.”

Akeem Johnson led Lakeside with 15 points and nine rebounds. Armon Wallace scored 14 points and T.J. Carpenter added 10.

“It was just a night that, although I thought we could have won, we just came up a little bit short,” Gould said. “We'll get back after it Monday night when we host Cotton Valley.”

Lakeside will host Cotton Valley in a pair of varsity games beginning at 6 p.m.

Minden Tide takes Calvary Tourney

Minden's AJ Shine led the way with 22 pts.

SHREVEPORT — The Minden Crimson Tide brought home their fourth tournament trophy this season, as they took first place in the Calvary Tournament on Saturday.


The Tide beat the host Calvary Baptist Cavaliers, 62-52 in the Championship Game.

“Our defense played great,” Minden head coach Alan Shaw said. “We held them to just three field goals in the first half. We got into some foul trouble, and they were able to make some free throws, but we were really good defensively in the first half. We took away their strengths and forced them to do things they didn’t want to do.”

Offensively, it wasn’t the Tide’s best game, but they were effective.

“We played ok on offense,” Shaw said. “I thought we were a little off running our offense, but we were still able to get points off of turnovers and run the break well.”

The Tide led by 16 going into the second half, and went on to win, 62-52.

“We didn’t play as well defensively in the second half,” Shaw said. “But we were a little gun shy because we were in deep foul trouble. We had four or five guys with three or more fouls, so we didn’t take as many chances on defense.”

A.J. Shine led the Tide with 20 points and T.J. Stanley added 15. Jay Beavers was six-for-six from the field for 12 points and DeMondre’ Harvey scored eight.

“T.J. had an outstanding game for us,” Shaw said. “he shot the ball well and made some free throws down the stretch when we needed it.”

In Friday’s win over Captain Shreve, the Tide shredded the Gators press and at times led by 30 points, as they went on to win, 83-61.

“We played well,” Shaw said. “Captain Shreve pressed us from start to finish. I think, because they play a lot of kids, that they thought they could run us down a bit. But the opposite was true, because the more they pressed, the better we played. We handled the press well and made our lay-ups. We shot the ball well from the perimeter for the second straight game. That is a big positive for us, because if we shoot well from the outside, we’re hard to beat.”

Shine led Minden with 22 points and Stanley added 18. Beavers scored 10 points and Simon Theus added nine. Rodarrion Rogers scored eight points

Courtesy of the NWLA News

Rebels topple top ranked private school in Texas

Cedric Jenkins led RCS with 21 points

While coach Timmy Byrd has rung up numerous “signature wins” while at Reserve Christian, he entered Friday night in search of one with Riverside.

The Rebels slayed a giant Friday night with a 66-56 win over Christian Life-Houston at the St. Pius Invitational in Houston.

CLA is considered the top private school in Texas, and boasts five players at 6-8 or taller. The roster is stacked with Division I college prospects.

Byrd’s Reserve Christian team missed an opportunity to play Christian Life a year ago when it was eliminated from its own tournament by Hahnville in the opening round.

Suffice to say, it was worth the wait.

“It’s very enjoyable to win a game when you’re the heavy underdog, as we were tonight,” said Byrd after the game. “I really think our team goes to another level with this win.”

Cedric Jenkins led all scorers with 21. Ricardo Gathers scored 17, and Ed Gallina added nine.

David Pukis led CLA (13-2) with 20.

Christian Life jumped out to a 9-0 lead in the first quarter and led 20-11 entering the second.

But the Rebels (9-2) fought back to take a 29-26 lead at halftime despite being largely without Gathers – the 6-7 Rebel big man sat nearly the entire first half after picking up two quick fouls.

The Rebels extended the lead to six entering the fourth quarter. With Riverside leading by three late, it turned up the defensive intensity while drawing fouls at the other end. Gathers and Jenkins combined to go 8-of-9 at the line in the closing minutes to ice the game.

Byrd credited guards Kyle McClue and Jenkins with controlling the tempo and making CLA play a halfcourt contest.

“I think our guards are the best in the state. To me, they proved it tonight,” said Byrd.

Though RA was the smaller team by far, Byrd said he wasn’t willing to get into a running game with CLA, whose big men were also highly adept in transition.

“These aren’t big, clumsy guys,” said Byrd. “They get a ton of easy buckets in transition, and they score a lot on second and third chance opportunities. We didn’t give those up tonight.”

He also was quick to point out the job that Gathers and Gallina did on the CLA big men.

“They’re huge, experienced, intimidating, and they’re not used getting beat,” said Byrd. “Our guys just played the way we’re accustomed to them playing, without worrying about who was the opponent.”

Courtesy of the L'Observateur

Acadian Area Report: Defensive win for Delcambre

BY CHRIS LANDRY

The Daily Iberian

CADE -- At the end, Delcambre hit enough free throws and ESA missed enough layups to help the Panthers come away with a 43-38 win in “The Nest” on the ESA campus.


Delcambre dominated the backboards for most of the night and held the Falcons to only 2 points in the second quarter to build a double-digit lead, but had to hang on at the end after ESA answered with a 10-0 comeback in the third quarter that helped the Falcons take the lead early in the fourth period on a steal and layup by J.J. Jacquet.

Only 15-for-27 from the line overall, the Panthers converted eight of 10 during a key stretch in the fourth quarter to take the lead again and then hold on.

Carl Taylor of Delcambre (13) is defended by ESA’s J.J. Jacquet (1) during a non-district basketball game Friday at ESA. Delcambre won, 43-38.

“They came back on us,” said Delcambre coach Benny Dronet. “We knew they would. They’re well-coached and fundamentally sound.”

Defense sparked both Delcambre’s surge in the first half and ESA’s rally in the second half.

Three steals leading to a pair of layups and a couple of free throws in the second quarter pushed a 15-12 DHS lead to 24-14 by halftime, with the Falcons’ only points coming off a layup by Jacquet following a steal with 4:03 to go in the half.

The Panthers (5-2) made it 26-14 on a bucket by Jacob Broussard with 7:19 to go in the half, but Delcambre did not score again until Carl Taylor’s baseline drive for a basket with 2:39 to go in the half.

“Delcambre did a great job of containing us,” said ESA coach Mike Bourgeois. “We didn’t execute tonight. That was more about Delcambre’s defense than our execution.

“And when we did get opportunities, we didn’t make them. We missed a couple of easy shots.”

It took until the 4:57 mark of the quarter for ESA to score ��” making it a scoreless stretch of 6:06 for the Falcons ��” before Jacquet again hit a layup following a steal. That sparked a sudden scoring outburst by the Falcons (5-12), including a pair of 3-pointers by Nick Jindia and another basket by Jacquet, that brought ESA to within 26-24 with 2:58 remaining in the half.

Jacquet led the Falcons with 10 points. Jindia, who scored all his points on 3-point shots, had 9 points, and Spencer Hales also had 9, including a 3-point basket.

The biggest lead for either team from there was 5 points, which Delcambre matched three times, including the final score.

ESA closed to within a point by the end of the third quarter at 30-29, and Jacquet gave ESA the lead at 31-30 with 6:59 remaining on a layup following a steal near midcourt.

But the Panthers took advantage of their more physical game to draw fouls in the fourth period, getting into the bonus situation with 6:09 to go and into the double bonus at the 3:05 mark. Taylor converted a 3-point play with 4:59 to go to give DHS the lead for good at 34-31, sparking the 8-for-10 run at the foul line over the next 41⁄2 minutes that helped Delcambre maintain its lead.

Taylor and Lance Linden scored 16 points each for the Panthers, and each was strong at the line. Taylor went 6-for-9 and Linden was 8-for-11 at the stripe.

“We finally started settling down against their pressure (defense),” said Dronet. “Down the stretch, if you’re going to keep your lead, they’ve got to foul and you’ve got to go to the line and make a good enough percentage to win.

ESA was 1-for-6 at the line, but Bourgeois noted that three of those were the front ends of one-and-one situations that could have meant additional free throws.

“So really we were 1-for-9,” he said. “That’s been our story all year, our inability to make plays when we need to.”

Delcambre plays Tuesday at Sacred Heart of Ville Platte.

ESA travels to Orlando, Fla., to play in the KSA Events Classic Basketball Tournament at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex. The Falcons open against Pigeon Forge, Tenn., at 5 p.m. on Thursday. Other schools in the boys’ blue bracket include St. Francis Catholic of Ontario, Canada; Steel Valley High School of Munhall, Pa.; Upperman High School of Baxter, Tenn.; Bishop Timon St. Jude of Buffalo, N.Y.; and Bishop Canevin of Pittsburgh, Pa.

“It’s going to be a great trip,” said Bourgeois. “It’s an opportunity to get away from everyone and bond together.”


Courtesy of the Daily Iberian

Houma Area Report: Ellender’s Lewis erupts for 41 against Terrebonne

Trevon Lewis Scored 41 in a game last week

Matt LeBlanc

Staff Writer
GRAY — Terrebonne boy’s basketball coach Byron McPherson used a popular phrase from ESPN SportsCenter to describe defending Ellender’s Trevon Lewis.

“You can’t stop him,” McPherson said. “Only thing you can do is hope you can contain him, and hopefully he has a bad night.”

Too bad for the Tigers, as Lewis finished with a game-high 41 points and Ellender defeated Terrebonne, 75-65, on the second day of the Casey Kozminski Memorial Tournament at H.L. Bourgeois.

Lewis scored 19 first-half points and 22 second-half points, including a 17-of-21 performance at the free-throw line, often drawing fouls under the basket.

“Our guys did a good job of getting Trevon the ball in the post,” Ellender coach Scott Gauthreaux said. “He was making strong moves, getting ‘and 1s’ or shooting two free throws. When he’s on a roll, we’ve got to get him the ball.”

While Lewis had his way in the paint, Terrebonne (3-6 overall) made a late rally to cut the score to 60-58 with 5:35 remaining in the game.

The Tigers trailed 60-52, but scored six-straight points and cut the deficit to two on Devon Austin’s lay up.

Austin’s 19 points led Terrebonne.

Ellender (8-2) answered when Lewis drew a shooting foul, sank both free throws and on the Patriots’ next possession used a spin move to get around a defender and lay it in for a 64-58 Ellender lead.

Terrebonne rallied again, cutting it to 67-63 on Austin’s 3-pointer, but Ellender’s Kardero Dixon answered with a layup to make it 69-63.

Terrebonne scored the next basket, but never got closer than four points, as Ellender finished the game on a 6-0 run.

McPherson said his team got back into the game by staying composed.

“We took our time, converted the easy opportunities that we got and we just started playing ball,” he said. “We took care of the ball. But at the end, when it got away from us, we went and reverted back to turning the ball over and not taking our time, getting in a rush and trying to play (Ellender’s) game.”

Playing Ellender’s style — pressure defense that results in transition baskets — is what got the Patriots an early lead.

Ellender started fast, forcing seven first-quarter turnovers and taking a 17-5 lead with 2:55 left in the first quarter.

But Terrebonne didn’t let the game get away, cutting it to 22-15 on Mike Williams’ 3-pointer at the end of the quarter.

Ellender kept its distance in the second quarter and seemed poised to put the game out of reach, as it took a 41-29 lead on Lewis’ long field goal.

A pair of Lewis free throws after halftime increased Ellender’s lead to 43-30, but Terrebonne started to make its comeback, capping the quarter with Williams’ steal and buzzer-beating 3-pointer to make it 58-50.

“I thought we dominated the first half,” Gauthreaux said. “But we let Terrebonne hang around by making those ... four or five 3-pointers in the first half. Then they made their run. We kind of got a little out of sync there in the fourth quarter, but we called a timeout, settled it down, and just took care of the basketball.”

H.L. BOURGEOIS 59, RABOUIN 41 (BOYS)

At the Casey Kozminski Memorial Tournament, the host Braves broke a 20-20 halftime time by outscoring Rabouin 16-4 in the third quarter and coasting to their first win of the season.

The Braves (1-10) pressured the Falcons into 10 third-quarter turnovers and took advantage scoring in transition to break open the game.

“We played well all night,” H.L. Bourgeois coach Andrew Caillouet said. “You look at the first half, we had the same pressure, we were getting the same turnovers. I don’t think we took two or three bad shots in the first half, we just couldn’t make a shot.”

Phil Jackson led H.L. Bourgeois with 16 points. Tyrone Amacker added 14 and Dillon Anderson had 11.

E.D. WHITE CATHOLIC 58, BRUSLY 47 (BOYS)

At the Episcopal of Baton Rouge Tournament, the Cardinals led at the end of each quarter to get the win over Brusly in the round-robin format.

E.D. White led 16-7 after the first quarter, 27-17 at halftime and 38-28 after the third quarter.

Trey Gaidry led E.D. White with 13 points, while Brusly’s Darius Jackson scored 20.

Courtesy of the Daily Comet