White Castle High’s easy 63-34 triumph over winless first-year District 8-A boys’ basketball newcomer Ascension Christian provided the Bulldogs with the edge over parish rival East Iberville High for runner-up honors in the league race last week.
The midweek victory in Gonzales boosted the WCHS boys to a final 10-2 record in 8-A basketball and provided them with a final 17-14 regular season record. It was just enough to provide the Bulldogs with a final edge over rivaling East Iberville in the league standings.
The EI Tigers lost early last week to Christian Life in St. Gabriel by an 81-63 score. That defeat doomed the EIHS boys to third in the league standings and boosted CLA (11-1) to the league championship. East bounced back Friday night to defeat West St. John by a 65-59 score to finish with a solid 9-3 district mark and a 19-9 regular season record.
The solid 8-A trio (CLA, WC, EI) entered this week awaiting notification of who they will play in the opening, bi-district round of the state Class A playoffs. All three local teams finished the regular season ranked in the 1-A Top Ten poll provided by the La. Sportswriters Assn. The trio also held solid power point records for the season. Christian Life, ranked second in the state by the LSWA, was expected to receive the lowest seeded foe in the opening round. WCHS held a slight edge over EIHS in first-round seeded foe, and perhaps home court start, tomorrow (Friday) by virtue of the second-place district finish.
Much of the district season, the White Castle boys held an edge on the rest of the district thanks to a league-opening road game upset win over Christian Life. WCHS also claimed a three-point, home court, overtime victory over East in the first round.
However, in the second round of league play the CLA Crusaders pinned a solid road loss on the hosting Bulldogs and then the WCHS boys lost on the road at East Iberville to close the gap between the three top clubs.
Last week’s win over EIHS was the second of the district season by CLA over the Tigers and it sealed the crown for the Crusaders and doomed the St. Gabriel team to third place. While EIHS had to face the tough CLA team in the final week of play, White Castle drew second tier 8-A foes St. John and Ascension Christian in their final two league encounters and coasted to a final 10-2 mark.
“That win at Christian Life and the one at home in overtime over East Iberville got us the runner-up spot. Our second round losses to Christian Life and East shows how tough a league we have. I think you will see all three of our teams go a ways in the playoffs. There is no doubt in my mind that Christian Life and East Iberville are outstanding basketball teams in our classification. We were fortunate to get our share of the honors in our strong district,” noted Coach Johnson.
WCHS 63, ASCENSION CHRISTIAN 34: Coach Johnson said there was little to comment on his team’s romp over 0-10 newcomer Ascension Christian.
“We had little trouble with them and led all the way. I cleared the bench and played everyone in the game. No one really stood out. It was a team effort,” noted the WCHS coach.
The Bulldogs proved to be the least experienced of the trio of final league leaders. With only one senior regular in 6-5 Dontrell Thomas, White Castle had one of its youngest teams in recent years. While Thomas proved to be a power under the boards for the third-straight season, it was the play of junior guards Ronald Martin and Daniel Allen that provided much of the offensive punch. A third junior guard Quadry Allen also contributed. Sophomore forwards Terrance Fair (6-4) and Randy Foster (6-1) provided strength under the boards with Thomas. Senior guard Jarelle Scott, sophomore forward Dondre Kelson (6-3), sophomore guard Isaac O’Bear also were factors off the bench in the Bulldogs’ run to second place district honors.
CLA 81, EIHS 63: The visiting Crusaders won the 8-A hoop crown at the expense of the hosting Tigers.
The number two-ranked Class A power club jumped out to a huge 22-4 lead and coasted from there to victory, although the locals shaved off points in both the second and fourth periods from the visitors’ lead.
Senior point guard Donovan Richardson led EIHS offensively. He netted a team-high 24 points, hitting an impressive six buckets from 3-point range in an attempt to rally back his Tiger club. CLA countered with a 27-point effort from St. Joseph University-bound and likely 8-A MVP candidate Langston Galloway.
Backing Richardson was Aldrick Nelson with 10 and the duo of Sheldon Ballom and Jonathan Belvin with 8 apiece. Randy Johnson added 7, while Greg Pickett had 4 and Andre Wright 2 points.
CLA also won the JV game, scoring a 33-26 triumph.
EIHS 65, WEST ST. JOHN 59: The Tigers went into their regular season and district finale with their fingers crossed for the upset of the year Friday night in Gonzales. The EI boys rapped up their 9-3 district mark on the road in Edgard Friday night to put themselves in position for a district runner-up tie with White Castle, but on the same evening the 0-9 Ascension Christian team had to put a major upset on White Castle to end up forging the deadline. It would not happen as WCHS romped to an easy win and a 10-2 mark.
Still, the Tigers rapped up league play with a solid road victory over eventual fourth-place finishing WSJHS.
Although the hosting Rams played the Tigers tough early and late in the district finale, scoring margins of 20-15 and 12-10 in the middle stanzas provided the parish club with its ninth league victory.
Sheldon Ballom provided the fire power for the Tiger offense in the victory as he nailed four buckets from 3-point range and closed with a team-high 18 points. Mitch Johnson popped in 15 points, while Greg Pickett netted 14. Jonathan Belvin tallied 8, while point guard Donovan Richardson meshed in 7 points.
Ram senior guard Corey Warmington tallied a game-high 19 points to lead the hosting Rams, while Denzel Pierre and Dray Joseph combined for 18 more points.
West St. John ended up finishing in a fourth-place tie in the 8-A race with Ascension CHS as both closed with 5-7 league marks. St. John was fifth with a 2-10 record, followed by Ascension Christian at 0-12.
