No. 21 seed Tigers fall to Plain Dealing in first round

PLAIN DEALING - East Iberville High School got into early foul trouble and Louisiana New Tech at Plain Dealing pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 58-41 Louisiana High School Athletic Association Class 1A bi-district playoff victory on Friday night.

The No. 21 seeded Tigers (13-17), under coach Doug Schultz, won 11 of their  final 18 games to advance to the postseason after dropping 10 of their first 12 to open the season.

“The guys really put together a nice little push at the end of the season and I was truly proud of the way they played,” Schultz said. “We had seven seniors a year ago so to put together such a great effort proves we should be a team to be reckoned with next year. We have all of our guys coming back except two and that nucleus got a lot of experience under their belt. They have tasted defeat and should be hungry.”

The 12th seeded Lions (19-8) advanced to the regional round where they faced No. 5 seed Christian Life on Wednesday.

“It was a tough place to play at,” Schultz said. “It was hard to get a foul called up there in north Louisiana and we got into foul trouble right away. We had to play a lot of young guys and they really took advantage of it by out rebounding us. We were never really in the game.”

Plain Dealing held the Tigers to just three first quarter points and ended with a flourish by scoring 20 in the fourth quarter.

Keldrick Carper led the Lions with 14 points and 13 rebounds, while Chiner Long added 11 to go with six assists. Willie Turks contributed 10.

“We were within five points all the way till the beginning of the fourth quarter when guys started to foul out,” Schultz said. “Then, they just overpowered us. It was not a real physical game because we got most of the calls against us.”

The Tigers lose seniors Tyler James and Junius Chong but will return Quantate Johnson, Kylen Popular, Khris Grace and Keldrick Oubre.