There has never been a senior class of basketball players at Loreauville High like the group that played its last game on Monday.

Hayden Benoit, Pharell Nora, Dylan Singleton, Vaschon Blount and Kylon Polk were the first group to win a playoff game. They accomplished that last year. The winningest senior class ever also won its bi-district playoff game this season.

The No. 7-seeded Tigers (17-9) scored the game’s first 10 points and led by 12 in the second quarter, but No. 10 Westlake rallied behind a pair of McNeese State football signees to win a Division III nonselect regional playoff contest on Monday at LHS.

“I knew Westlake was a hard-nosed team,” said LHS coach Darrell Caesar, who took the job five years ago. “I knew they wouldn’t quit. We came out hot in the first half. Basketball is a game of runs.”

The Tigers were led by Nora’s 12 points. He assisted on Benoit’s 3-pointer for an early 10-0 lead. Benoit returned the favor, passing to Nora for a 12-2 advantage midway through the first quarter.

Blaise Romero (four points) made a bucket to put LHS up 28-19 in the second quarter. The Rams (16-8) tied it with a 9-0 run. Kevin Rideau (15 points) and Ryan Allen (25) scored all but 18 of Westlake’s points.

“We had opportunities early where we could’ve extended the lead to make things easier on ourselves, but we missed some lay-ups,” Caesar said. “In the second quarter, those same shots that were falling in the first weren’t (going in).”

LHS made 9 of 15 field goals (60%) in the first quarter and 5 of 15 (33%) in the second quarter. Romero came off the bench for two buckets in the second quarter.

Polk finished with 10 points and six steals. Singleton and Blount added nine points apiece. Benoit had five points for LHS, which continued to struggle shooting the ball in the third quarter (2 of 9 FG). 

“I’m proud of my team,” Caesar said. “They earned the highest playoff seed ever. First to win a playoff game. They’ve now won two. No group has ever done that. It was a good group of seniors. 

“They were a gritty group, a close-knit group. I’m definitely going to miss them being around, but that’s how it goes. You have them around for so long, and then they’re gone and you get a new group.”

Nora accounted for two of the Tigers’ three field goals in the fourth quarter. Both shots were 3-pointers from the corner in front of the LHS student section that cut the Rams’ lead to two and three points. 

The Tigers had chances to tie the game in the fourth but missed, and Westlake scored the game’s final seven points.