Jaqualon Lovette scored on a breakaway and Xavier Smith made a steal seconds later to propel New Iberia Senior High to a 53-52 win over Thibodaux High School in the Tryou Battle in Da Berry basketball tournament Friday night at NISH.

The Yellow Jackets had blown a double digit lead in the fourth quarter thanks to some hot shooting by Thibodaux’s Kyren Lacy and Kobi Johnson against New Iberia’s zone defense. The Tigers chipped away throughout the fourth quarter and took a 52-51 lead with 26.6 seconds to go before Lovette hit a layup to give NISH the lead.

When Thibodaux tried to get back upcourt, Smith stole the ball to set off a celebration by the NISH players as THS players watched in shock.

Resiliency was the term NISH coach Todd Russ used for his team after the game, and said his seniors step up when they needed to do so.

“My guys made me look good,” Russ said. “The credit goes to those kids.”

Lovette finished with 14 points, including a pair of 3-point shots, but none was bigger than the basket at the end. His coach said he knew his diminutive guard could break down opposing players and that’s why he put the ball in his hands at the end.

“(Alex) Mandeville came up big,” Russ said. “He missed some free throws but he wanted it, and (Kenan) Tauriac wanted it, and the guys seized the moment. When we needed a stop, we got a stop. We hang our hat on defense and through the ups and downs and the roller coaster with everything going on, our guys stayed true to our defense. As you saw in the end, we got a turnover. Xavier Smith has played tremendous the past couple of games.”

Russ said he coaches his players hard, and they endure it even if they don’t always like it.

“They understand where it’s coming from,” he said. “Our program is one that’s going to grind. Our kids have taken on that motto, and this sure was a grind-out game. That game could’ve gone either way because our teams mirror each other from a defensive standpoint, and we ended up with one more lucky bounce and it ended up going our way.”

Russ put the blame for allowing Thibodaux to rally on his own shoulders, while crediting the Tigers for their play. Young had three 3-pointers, all in the fourth quarter, and finished with 11 points. Johnson had two 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to go with two in the first and had 17 points.

“I hadn’t seen enough of them, the games I watched here, and a couple of games I watched earlier, and I hadn’t seen those guys make those shots consistently, and they did (Friday night),” Russ said. “To their credit they stepped up when they their team needed them to step up, but to our guys’ credit, we had some guys step up when we needed them to step up.”

The Tiger outscored NISH 25-17 in the final period after taking a 22-18 halftime lead and extending it to 37-27 lead after three quarters.

“As a coach I made some poor decisions,” Russ said. “We shouldn’t have gone zone because we had ’em. We were guarding pretty well. We left some guys open that our scouting report didn’t have down as a shooter. He made some big shots.

“I give Tony Clark and Thibodaux High a lot of credit. I knew they weren’t going to lay down.”

Mandeville had a game-high 21 points, including 9 in the fourth quarter, with three baseline drives for buckets as Thibodaux made things tight down the stretch, helping the Jackets maintain their lead.

Smith had 5 points but went 3-for-3 at the foul line in the fourth quarter. Tauriac added 6 points.

JaQuan Wagner had 9 points for the Tigers.

Russ noted how many thrilling games have been played in the tournament, which has expanded to 13 teams this year, and only hopes New Iberia fans start to catch on to what they’re missing and help the tournament keep growing.

“The city of New Iberia is missing out on some good games,” Russ said. “We’ve had more games that’s been like the finish of ours — last night Comeaux and Northside go to double overtime; us and Zachary go to overtime; Thibodaux High and Tioga go down to the last couple of possessions. White Castle and Plaquemine, with a minute to go it’s a 1-point game. There’s some great basketball taking place. I think it’s something that’s going to continue to grow because we’re bringing some quality programs to New Iberia, teams and players you don’t normally see.”

 

New Iberia 63, Cecilia 39

Lovette scored 12 of his 14 points in the first quarter as New Iberia opened up a 24-4 lead in taking care of Cecilia 63-39 Wednesday in the first round of the NISH TRUYOU Battle in Da Berry Tournament.

Alex Mandeville added 11 points and Kenan Tauriac added 10 for the Jackets, who 38-11 at halftime and 56-35 after three periods in the rout.

In all 12 different Jackets scored at least one point for NISH in the win.

Jevon Berry led Cecilia with 12 points.

 

New Iberia 56,

Zachary 51

Tauriac led the way with 25 points as NISH held off Zachary 56-51 in the quarterfinals of the NISH TRUYOU Battle in Da Berry Thursday.

Alex Mandeville added 15 points Lovette finished with eight points as NISH survived a Zachary run in the third quarter to improve to 2-0 in the tournament.

Calvin Adams led Zachary with 12 points.

 

Catholic High 63,

Highland Baptist 13

Isaac Thibodeaux led the way with 12 points while Kilbe Chretien and Sam Trotter each had 11 as Catholic High blew past Highland Baptist 63-13 Friday in a non-district game.

The Panthers held the Bears scoreless in the first and fourth quarters to improved to 7-6 overall.

Derrick Wright led HBCS (1-5) with six points.

Highland plays host to Livonia Monday, CHS plays host to Erath Friday.

 

GIRLS 

Highland Baptist 48,

David Thibodaux 28

Camryn Sensley almost single-handedly outscored David Thibodaux Technical as the Highland Baptist Lady Bears improved to 6-3 overall with a 48-27 non-district win Friday.

Sensley had 25 points, including 12-of-15 from the foul line, as Highland bolted out to a 14-6 first quarter lead and never looked back.

Marin Barras added seven points Jasey Roy chipped in five for the Lady Bears.

Individual statistics for DTT (3-3) were not available. 

HBCS plays host to Westgate Monday.