A buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Andrew Savoy propelled St. Martinville Senior High into the Top 28 for the first time in 19 years on Friday.

The No. 11 Tigers, who have won nine straight games, upset a higher-seeded opponent once again with a 61-58 victory over No. 3 Sophie B. Wright in the quarterfinals in New Orleans.

“We were trying to get the ball across the court and Andrew popped open,” SMSH head coach Ihmaru Jones said. “We were looking to get the best shot available. Everybody ran to No. 2 (Jalen Mitchell) and he dumped it off to Andrew, who was open.

“Andrew didn’t score much, but the 3 he hit was the one we needed. It was a great ride home, much better than the bus ride home from Monroe last year after we lost to Wossman in the quarterfinals.”

In the 2020 quarterfinals, No. 10 St. Martinville dropped a 65-49 decision to No. 2 Wossman, which went one to lose by one point to Bossier in the finals.

Monday at 7:30 P.M. in the Cajun Dome, the Tigers (22-11) get another shot as the Wildcats (25-2), who are once again seeded second.

“They’ve been going through opponents easily,” Jones said. “It’s going to be a battle. They have a high-profile guard in Devonte Austin, who is averaging 24 points per game. We’re going to have to take that down a notch.”

The Wildcats, whose only two losses were to 2A No. 1 Rayville and Division IV No. 3 Calvary Baptist, throttled No. 23 Northwest 82-43 in the quarterfinals.

“Their defense is good,” Jones said. “This morning, I looked at the film from when we played them last year, and their defense was good. They do a good job of making adjustments. They lost 10 or 11 seniors from last year. They reloaded.”

Jones applauded the effort on Friday from 6-foot-3 forward Brandon Singleton.

“He came off the bench and played a lot of minutes,” Jones said. “He was rebounding and playing good defense. He took care of Sophie B. Wright’s big man. We hoped to hold him to zilch, but he ended up with eight points off putbacks.

“Wright struggled from 3-point range as they had several times during the year. In some of their earlier games, they were 1-for-17 and 6-of-29 from 3-point range. With them missing a lot from the outside, we really didn’t have to worry about shooters.”

Jalen Mitchell had a huge outing for SMSH, which last reached the Top 28 in 2002. That year, Darrell Mitchell Jr. won the coveted title of Mr. Basketball after leading the Tigers to a 4A state championship.

“Jalen ended up with 23 points,” Jones said. “Datayvious Gabriel ended up with six because they were trying to box-and-one him. They were sending in different guys just to face guard him the whole time. We kind of used him as a decoy. We stuck him in a corner, and then we made sure to penetrate his side because we knew the guy guarding him wouldn’t help on defense.

“Jalen was hitting 3’s with some mid-range jumpers. Harvey Broussard had 15 points. He was there when we needed a dump-off late in the game. He’s had a good attitude. He’s been happy and has been getting-with-it.”

To beat Wossman, Jones said his team will have to keep the Wildcats from crashing the offensive boards.

“We can’t let Wossman get offensive rebounds,” he said. “On the film I watched, they have four guys attacking the offensive glass. We have to block them out. We have to secure defensive rebounds. They don’t necessarily have tall guys, but they’re strong. They don’t mind mixing it up inside.”