Every team needs a “glue” guy.

The one who holds the team together, the one who quietly leads the team, the one you can count on to produce when the time comes, the one everyone looks to to carry the team when it’s most needed.

For New Iberia Senior High, senior point guard Allen Walker is that glue.

“He is the glue,” NISH boys basketball coach Todd Russ said. “He gives the effort regardless of the opponent He’s been a huge part of our success this year. He gets overlooked because he’s not a big scorer for us. It’s not that he can’t score, it’s that he looking to distribute the ball. He takes the role of shutting down the other team’s best perimeter player most nights.

“He makes us go.”

Perhaps Russ saved his best compliment for the end.

“We’re not 21-7 without the effort that he does all around,” the NISH coach said.

As point guard, the offense runs through Walker.

He’s the one who brings the ball down court. He’s the one who starts the offense. He’s the one who makes sure the team is running the right offense. He’s the one who, as Russ said, defends the opposing team’s best perimeter player.

“He’s just a very coachable kid,” Russ said. “He’s unselfishness, perhaps sometimes a little too unselfishness for me.

“When he’s aggressive, we’re a lot better. We’re only going to go as far as he takes us. Now he does have his two sidekicks, (Jaterrius) Fusilier and (Brennan ) Chatman, but he’s an integral part of our success.”

As for Walker, he’s all in and committed to NISH’s success on the basketball court.

“It’s been all good so far this year,” the senior said. “The younger players haven’t all gone in yet, but they’re getting it. We still have time to improve and get better and get ready for the playoffs.”

As one of the elder statesmen on the team, Walker takes his role seriously in helping the younger players get better and get ready to take over when their time comes.

“That’s my job,” Walker said. “I have to make sure that we take care of them, that they learn the right way. Like I did when I was a younger player, I have to set a prime example.”

Walker explained his role of the team as stopping the opponent’s best player, taking care of the ball, limiting turnovers and making sure that everyone is where they need to be on the court.

“I have a lot of responsibility and I take on that responsibility,” he said.

Walker played many positions for the Jackets early in his career, but that last two seasons he’s run the point for NISH and enjoys being in that role.

One thing he regrets is that last season NISH came into the playoffs as one of the top seeds but fell short of the state tournament.

Now in his final year, he wants to atone for that and help lead the Jackets to the Top 28, where NISH hasn’t been since 1999.

“That would be the best way to end my career here,” Walker said. “That would be the best way to go out, leading this team to the title.”