ST. MARTINVILLE – A brisk start carried the host St. Martinville Tigers to a 61-44 win over Franklin in the SMHS Holiday Shootout on Thursday.

The Tigers (13-1) had seven players score at least six points.  

Jalen Mitchell had 11, followed by Datayvious Gabriel with 10 points.  Andrew Savoy and Harvey Broussard chipped in eight points apiece.

SMHS head coach Ihmaru Jones — in his first year at the helm — wasn’t happy with his team’s performance. 

“I think we played poorly,” Jones said.  “We got off to a fast start but we played poorly.  We were up 21-4 at the end of the first quarter, but then we started shooting too many threes.”

Franklin, which dropped to 5-6, outscored the Tigers 12-7 in the second quarter to trail 28-16 at the half.  

The Hornets, who were paced by Kim Michael Provost III (20 points) and J’Michael Gray (16), cut the deficit to 28-18 early in the third quarter before the Tigers took control with 12 points off the bench from Broussard and Davante Alexander.

Broussard, a 6-foot-3 freshman, scored six points in the third quarter with two shots from beyond the arc, while Alexander added all six of his points in the third, which ended with the Tigers ahead 48-25. 

The production from Alexander was a bright spot for the Tigers. 

“I was happy with that.  To see Alexander score and hit jump shots in those spots we practice every day – that was great,” Jones said.  “I expect that from Harvey Broussard.”

The SMHS coach wants to see his team drive to the basket more often and shoot less from the perimeter.

“I tell them all the time that when you miss a three, the rebounds come long,” he said.  “It’s difficult to get an offensive rebound off a three-point miss, so all you’re doing is inviting them to get back into the game.

“We took a lot of threes and missed, and they scored a few points and got back into the game.  Also, our defensive rebounding was poor.  We didn’t get defensive rebounds at all.  They got too many second-chance shots.  Sometimes, they were getting a third chance at the bucket.”

The Tigers meet Rayne (11-6) in the quarterfinals today at 6 p.m.

“The last time we played Rayne, we beat them in overtime 90-78,” Jones said.

In other games at the tournament, Rayne crushed Church Point 71-31 in the opening game while Class 3A Patterson beat Class 5A Alexandria Senior High 66-60 in the third game.

Cecilia beat Livingston 58-47 and in the final game of the first day, defending Class 4A champion Breaux Bridge took care of Tioga 48-29.

Today’s games at the shootout include Westgate taking on Cecilia at Noon followed by Peabody and Patterson at 1:30 p.m..

At 3 p.m. Franklin plays Church Point in a consolation bracket game and at 4:30 p.m. Tioga battles Jennings in another consolation bracket contest.

Host St. Martinville Senior High plays Rayne at 6 p.m. and final game of the second day will see New Iberia Senior High battling Breaux Bridge at 7:30 p.m.

Play continues Saturday and Sunday at the shootout with the championship finals set for 5:30 p.m. Sunday.