Rematch on tap

Published 2:00 pm Thursday, December 29, 2011

ST. MARTINVILLE — The St. Martinville Tigers turned to their outside shooters for the second straight night to advance in their annual Holiday Shootout basketball tournament, nailing five 3-point baskets to turn a first-quarter deficit into a 30-23 halftime advantage Wednesday night against Houma Christian.

The Tigers’ 56-45 win set up a rematch with Westgate in the semifinals today at 7:30 p.m., after WHS rolled to a 66-43 win over Lafayette on Wednesday. Also advancing to the semifinals were New Iberia, a 46-42 winner over Helen Cox, and Peabody, an 82-51 winner over Abbeville. NISH and Peabody play at 6 p.m. in the other semifinal.

The early games today are consolation bracket semifinals featuring Cecilia and Jeanerette in the first game at  noon and Franklin and Breaux Bridge in the second game at 1:30 p.m. Helen Cox plays Abbeville at 3 p.m. and Houma Christian faces Lafayette at 4:30 in the fifth-place bracket.

St. Martinville hit six 3-pointers in its tournament-opening win over Franklin on Tuesday, and hit seven on Wednesday to surge past Houma Christian. The Warriors took a 5-0 lead early and were ahead 11-9 after one quarter but SMSH rallied to tie the score three times in the first 3:20 of the second period, then went ahead on Bradley Savoy’s second straight 3-point shot at the 3:48 mark that gave the Tigers a 19-16 lead.

Houma Christian pulled even at 21 on a trey by Guy Campbell with 2:09 to go, but St. Martinville hit three 3-pointers in the final 1:25 to outscore the Warriors 9-2, including a 30-foot shot by Newman Batiste at the horn.

“We shot the ball fairly decent from (3-point range),” said SMSH coach Darrel Mitchell Sr.  “We didn’t do anything else well. We didn’t rebound well. We were tapping the ball around. We were in position, we just weren’t grabbing it.”

Houma Christian took advantage of that, with Nate Frye playing bigger than his 6-foot height. The 2010-11 All-Region Boys’ Basketball MVP for the Houma area, Frye scored 20 points, many coming after rebounding missed shots.

Frye pulled the Warriors to within 2 points with 3:12 to go in the third quarter after hitting one of two free throws after he was fouled following an offensive rebound. St. Martinville stretched its lead to double digits by the 5:49 mark of the fourth quarter on a bucket by Kendall Wiltz, and forced Houma Christian to foul at the end of the game with a little patient offense after building the big lead.

Batiste led St. Martinville with 18 points, including four 3-pointers, and Brandon Gardner had 16 points. Savoy added 9 points, nailing a pair of 3-pointers along the way.

Guy Campbell had 14 points for Houma Christian, 12 coming on four 3-pointers.

“I knew it was going to be a good little test for us,” said Mitchell. “They can shoot the ball. They’re not big but they’re solid.”

SMSH and Westgate met earlier this season in Westgate’s home opener, with WHS coming away a 71-46 winner.

“Now we’ve got a rematch,” said Mitchell. “I hope we show up this time. Last time we didn’t.”

New Iberia 46, Helen Cox 42

New Iberia hit 16 of 23 free throws, while Helen Cox was limited to 1-for-2 shooting from the foul line in Wednesday’s first game.

The Cougars were whistled for 18 fouls, while NISH committed only six. The Yellow Jackets led 10-7 after one quarter and 27-16 at halftime.

Mike Sam scored a game-high 23 points for New Iberia, going 8-for-9 at the foul line. Mark Gray added 9 points.

Donnie Lee had a pair of 3-pointers and scored 15 points to lead Helen Cox. Jeromy Smith added 10.

Peabody 82, Abbeville 51

A dozen players scored for Peabody in an easy win over Abbeville, led by Troy Jones with 18 points and Duan Wright with 15.

The Warhorses (14-0) committed 21 fouls, sending AHS to the line 28 times, with the Wildcats converting 20 of those. But Peabody had 36 baskets from the floor, all 2-pointers, while AHS had only 13, two of which were 3-point buckets.

Bruce Conner had 12 points, Dee Wagner 10 and Josh Ivory 9 for the PHS.

Tremone Williams led AHS with 29 points, hitting one 3-pointer and 11 of 16 free throws. Fabian August added  11 points.

Westgate 66, Lafayette 43

Westgate blew the game open with a 29-point outburst in the second quarter, stretching what was a 10-8 lead after one quarter to 39-18 at halftime.

Jonté Hypolite led the Tigers with 19 points, including a pair of 3-pointers. D’Nerius Antoine had 16 points, Kaleb Ratfliff had 12, Deion Thomas finished with 9 and Eddie Sims had 8.

Trevin Wilson had 9 points to pace the Mighty Lions. Cory Davis had 8 points, while Derek Delauney had 7 and  Kwinci Harris had 6.4