New Iberia’s Ralph Johnson (4) drives the baseline for a chance to score against Abbeville Friday. The Jackets beat the Wildcats 46-32.

Early in the 2017-18 basketball season, New Iberia Senior High is still looking for some consistency on offense, head coach Todd Russ said Friday after the Yellow Jackets beat Abbeville 46-32.

While his team didn’t shoot the ball particularly well and struggled some offensively, the Jackets played well enough defensively to overcome that for the non-district win. Russ said he thinks that by the time games really start to matter, NISH will be ready.

“Right now, when you lose as many guys as we’ve lost from last year, you’re trying to establish toughness, and consistency,” Russ said. “The team we’re looking at is totally different now. We’ve got to get these guys some time together. They’re going to have to grow up, and I feel we’re going to be good when it’s time to be good.”

JaQuandre Lovette and Kenan Tauriac were the only players who scored in double figures for the Jackets, with Lovette hitting a pair of fourth-quarter 3-pointers and finishing with 13 points. Tauriac had 10, with Lawrence Gilton adding 7 and Ralph Johnson and Alex Mandeville scoring 5 each.

The Yellow Jackets led 14-4 after one quarter with five players scoring, and limited the Wildcats to a free throw with 4:53 remaining in the period and a bank-shot 3-pointer by Tarius Campbell less than 20 seconds later.

NISH stretched the lead to as much as 16 points in the second quarter, and Abbeville by the three-minute mark had more turnovers in the period (three) than points (2). The ‘Cats outscored NISH 9-1 over the final 2:15 to trim New Iberia’s lead to 23-15 at halftime, with a steal and dunk by Tyrese Sam and another banked-in trey by Macaylon Walker with less than a second left before the break to pull to within 23-15 at the intermission.

But Abbeville again struggled with turnovers to start the third quarter, getting a travel, an over and back, an offensive foul on a rebound and another turnover in the first four minutes of the period while scoring only one basket. NISH took advantage with an 9-2 run over that stretch, outscoring AHS 8-0 in the first four minutes of the second half, and led 33-20 heading into the fourth quarter.

Lovette buried a 3-pointer 20 seconds into the fourth quarter and added another with just under four minutes remaining to help NISH maintain its double digit lead. A pair of Lovette free throws with 33.8 seconds to go made the lead 17 points, the biggest of the game.

Sam led AHS with 8 points, including a pair of 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, but no other player had more than 4 points for the Wildcats. Abbeville got no closer than 9, at 36-27, with 4:45 to go and trailed by at least 10 for the rest of the quarter.

That lead could’ve been bigger for New Iberia had the Jackets not struggled to maintain possession themselves, Russ said.

“I thought defensively we weren’t bad tonight, but offensively we need more consistency,” he said. “My staff counted 24 turnovers and they weren’t even pressuring us. To have that many turnovers when they’re not pressuring you is scary.”

While he has three seniors and four or five juniors on the team, only one senior and one junior have played meaningful minutes before this season, Russ said. One of his seniors is a transfer student from Franklin, so it will take some time for the team to meld, the coach said.

NISH (3-2) is scheduled to play Peabody in the Northside tournament at 5:30 p.m. Thursday.