New Iberia Senior High boys basketball coach Chad Pourciau has been saying that his team needed to face some adversity, and the Yellow Jackets did just that in Thursday’s 62-41 win at home over Northwest.

With 6-foot-5 senior Wayne-Randall Bashay sidelined by a knee injury, Christian Walker scored 26 points in the rout.

“We came out to prove that we’re going to be the same team, even without Wayne,” said Walker, who connected on 10-of-16 shots from the floor with five 3-pointers.

“We just have to go harder and play harder to get the win.”

In NISH’s 69-61 win over St. Martinville Senior High on Tuesday, Randall-Bashay injured his knee. Pourciau is waiting on the results from an MRI.

“Anytime you lose one of your top guys to injury, everybody is concerned,” Pourciau said. “Wayne is a kid who works so hard. You hate to see that happen to him. He’s had a really good year.”

The Yellow Jackets (11-0) wasted no time putting the Raiders away. A Chauncy Roberson free throw 11 seconds into the game gave Northwest its first and only lead.

NISH applied pressure from there, using a 5-0, 6-0 and a 10-0 run to build a 26-7 lead at the end of the quarter. Sophomore Devin Frank, who got the start with Randall-Bashay out, scored all eight of his points in the opening period.

“With Wayne out, everybody has to do a little more,” Pourciau said. “We talked about everybody collectively replacing what he gives us.

“Devin is a solid contributor. He’s a coach’s kid who doesn’t say a word. He’s very reliable and has been big for us.”

Kylan Dugas scored nine points for NISH. Austin Delahoussaye and Jayden Westley added seven and six points.

The NISH fans erupted when Dugas, a 5-foot-10 senior guard, narrowly missed a slam dunk in the second half. The gym exploded again when Delahoussaye drilled a 3-pointer for a 56-32 lead with 5:20 remaining in the fourth quarter.

“That excites everybody, even on our team,” Walker said of Delahoussaye’s shot. “We know he can shoot the ball and score whenever he wants. He just doesn’t do it. He’s a passer/point guard. He likes to control the game that way.”

With Randall-Bashay out, the 6-foot-2 Westley is the tallest NISH player. Walker made a concerted effort to get the ball inside to Westley for some buckets near the cylinder.

“We have to get (Westley) more confident with Wayne out,” Walker said.

“Unbelievable,” Pourciau said when asked about Walker’s assists. “The ball movement was outstanding. Christian was our leading scorer, but all seven guys who played scored.

“Christian was outstanding. Kylan was good. Austin was solid. Jayden always has good energy and effort. If he starts finishing around the rim, we’ll be in really good shape.”

NISH will return to action on Wednesday at the Darrel Mitchell, Sr. Holiday Classic at St. Martinville. The Yellow Jackets will face the Acadiana/Abbeville winner at 8 P.M.

“This group needs to handle some adversity,” Pourciau said. “We need it. We’ve had leads in most games. We gave up the lead at Liberty and handled some adversity, which was good to see.

“It will be good to see how we handle it with Wayne out. If it brings us even closer together, we’ll look back at this stretch and say it was the difference.

Roberson paced Northwest (6-4) with 22 points. Kaleb Collins added 11 points.