It had been almost four years to the day that the Westgate basketball team had won a playoff game when the No.14 seed Tigers took the court against No. 19 St. Amant on Friday in the Division I Non-Select Bi-District round. 

In 2021, Westgate, then the No. 9 seed, notched a 68-55 win over South Lafourche before losing in the second round to Lakeshore, 76-74. This time around, the Tigers, led by mostly freshmen, fought back a late St. Amant comeback to keep their season alive and book a second-round matchup against No. 3 seed Denham Springs next week. 

“We started off so bad,” said Westgate head coach Oliver Winston. “I thought we played fairly well defensively, but offensively, we had a lot of non-pressure turnovers and little things like that, so that’s got to be cleaned up.  We limited them to under 50 and that’s usually our goal. Defensively, we had good energy and didn’t let some of their scorers get too free tonight.”

The Tigers carried a narrow three-point lead into the second quarter after giving up turnovers on their first two possessions. As the game progressed, the young team began to find its rhythm, scoring 14 points in the second quarter and holding St. Amant to just nine. 

The Gators answered back after the halftime break, outscoring Westgate 16-10 in the third quarter to draw level at 40-40 with 6:26 left in the game. Despite the late comeback attempt, the Tigers managed to remain calm and continue to dictate the tempo of the game, speeding up on defense to force mistakes and slowing the game down on offense to eat away at the clock. 

According to Winston, the ability to control the pace of the game is something he has drilled into his team all season long.

“We’ve been doing that all year, just working on being able to control the tempo at the pace we want when we want it,” he explained. “We’ve done a better job of that these last couple weeks, and I think we did a solid job tonight.”

Leading the team in several key metrics was freshman point guard Cayden Lancelin. In addition to scoring 28 points, Lancelin ended the game with 10 rebounds, six assists and four steals. 

“He literally carried us offensively in the first half, especially in the first quarter,” said Winston. “We’re putting a lot on his plate. To be a point guard as a freshman and push the pace, have to, at times, lift us by scoring, and play defense is a tall task. He’s done an incredible job, all of the freshmen have, and he had a great game tonight.”

That pressure hasn’t seemed to bother the six-foot, 177-pound freshman all season. Against NISH earlier this year, Lancelin scored two crucial free throws and a layup to life the Tigers past their crosstown rivals without seeming to break much of a sweat while doing so. Against St. Amant, Lancelin displayed the kind of cool-headedness that makes him one of the top players in his grade. 

“I feel good,” Lancelin said after the game. “I got some rest and really studied them, I just brought my A game. I’ve always been a leader, ever since I started playing basketball.” 

Freshman Antonio Quetel scored 12 points and recorded three steals against St. Amant. Senior Amari Simon scored seven crucial fourth-quarter points. 

The Tigers will take the weekend to recover, both mentally and physically, ahead of a Mardi Gras contest against Denham Springs (27-3). The No. 3 seed Yellow Jackets received a first round bye and will be looking to improve on last season’s playoff run that ended in the quarterfinals. 

Should Westgate emerge victorious, they would have to face off against either No. 6 Ruston (17-5) or No. 11 South Lafourche (21-5) in the quarterfinals.