Hornets eye top seed after road win against Loreauville
Published 10:15 am Thursday, February 20, 2025
Franklin Senior High has followed the same pattern to a district boys basketball win at Loreauville the past two years.
Last season, the Hornets trailed by 10 points more than halfway through the third quarter before rallying to win. On Tuesday, the Division IV nonselect defending state champs trailed 43-38 entering the fourth quarter.
After LHS scored 20 points in the third quarter, the Hornets held the Tigers scoreless in the final period of a 52-43 win to improve their record to 20-5 overall, 7-2 in District 7-2A.
“My guys are resilient,” FSH coach Tremayne Johnson said. “They’ve been battle tested. This wasn’t anything new.”
FSH, which is No. 2 in the Division IV power ratings behind Vinton (20-4), has one regular season game remaining against Delcambre (1-19, 0-7).
Jeremiah Gray led the Hornets with 15 points. Jahiri Perry added nine points. Treyshaun Mack and Jylon Jackson had eight apiece. Jorian Gray and Mark Jones chipped in seven and five points.
“Jeremiah is a great facilitator,” Johnson said. “His basketball IQ is off the charts. He’s one of the guys who has been with me for four years. He, Treyshaun and Jylon were the same three guys that after we won a ring last year, they were like, ‘let’s go win another one.'”
LHS (15-8, 4-3), which is No. 10 in the Division III nonselect power ratings, took a 19-6 lead in the first quarter. The Hornets scored the final five points of the quarter after Tigers’ forward Vaschon Blount, who finished with 14 points, picked up his second foul.
FSH continued the run in the second quarter, scoring the first eight points to take a 21-19 lead with 3:19 left in the half. Jackson made consecutive shots to tie it at 19-19. Jeremiah Gray followed with a put-back.
“We came out stronger in the second quarter,” Jackson said. “Coach gave us a pep talk. I had to let go of my emotions and play harder.”
Loreauville, which also got 14 points from Kylon Polk, trailed 30-23 at halftime but outscored the Hornets 10-4 over the last three minutes of the third quarter. Polk’s 3 gave the Tigers a 41-38 lead, and Pharell Nora added a bucket near the buzzer.
“We have some more work to do,” Johnson said. “We have to lock in a little bit more defensively. I think we’ll be alright.
“That’s a tough bunch of kids right there (at Loreauville). They have a bunch of seniors. They had just knocked off Catholic High, so they were riding the wave a little bit.”
Dylan Singleton scored seven points for the Tigers, who travel to West St. Mary (14-9, 3-5) in the final game of the regular season.
“We missed too many lay-ups and free throws,” said LHS coach Darrell Caesar, whose team missed six from the charity stripe in the first quarter. “In big games like that, you have to make them.
“I think that was the big difference in the game. Franklin is a really aggressive team. They’re great on the boards. I think we did better than last time, but they were able to get second-chance shots.”
