WSM survives Jeanerette for key district win

Published 12:30 am Sunday, January 13, 2019

JEANERETTE — Shonathan Sparrow’s 3-point try with tenths of a second left in the game hit the rim twice and bounced out, and West St. Mary escaped Jeanerette with a thrilling 50-47 District 7-2A win Friday night.

The loss was the first in district for Jeanerette and puts both teams at 3-1 in league play, with Franklin at 3-0 heading into its Friday night home game against Ascension Episcopal. Jeanerette is 9-10 overall and WSM is 9-6.

“Little Shonathan, our senior, it was dead in — it went in and went out,” Jeanerette coach Dwayne Alexander said. “That would’ve tied the game. But like I said, I give West St. Mary credit. They’re the three-time defending district champion, so we knew they were going to come in and play their best game. We didn’t match their intensity, but we played a lot better (later in the game). If those two shots (Sparrow’s miss and an earlier 3-pointer that also bounced out) would’ve gone down, who knows what might’ve happened.”

“Any time West St. Mary and Jeanerette play each other, it doesn’t matter what our records are, you’re going to see two teams that are going to battle like warriors,” WSM coach Gary Burrell said. “I’m just happy we came out victorious tonight. It could’ve gone either way.”

Jeanerette had to overcome a double-digit deficit in the second half in front of a crowd packed into the school gym, cutting a 12-point WSM lead with 7:12 remaining in the second quarter to 3 points with 2:40 left before West St. Mary went on a 7-0 run over the final  2 1/2 minutes to head into the break up 29-19.

The Tigers got as close as 4 points in the third quarter on a steal and layup by TJ Tallmore, but again the Wolfpack pushed back, pushing the lead to 38-28 on a pair of free throws by Ronald Washington with 1:32 left.

That came on the heels of Toddrick Paul’s third foul for Jeanerette, with Tallmore having picked up his fourth at the 3:46 mark. Jaquincy Polidore had been disqualified with 5:09 left in the first half after twice being called for a technical foul after grabbing and hanging on the rim.

“The kid getting disqualified hanging on the rim, that’s my best defensive player, so once he was disqualified we kind of had to make a few adjustments,” Alexander said.

Jeanerette made its most concerted push in the fourth quarter thanks to a defense that finally began boxing out and getting a few baskets in transition and hitting a couple of 3-pointers, including one by Tallmore with 4:11 to go that made it a 43-36 game.

 “I think we did a better job in the second half on the boards,” Alexander said. “We were limiting them to one shot. Our game is to get out in open space and make plays. We’re not a real good halfcourt offensive team. We like to get out and run, and we did a better job at that in the second half.”

Burrell said the Wolfpack was trying to be patient and not rush their shots in the second half.

“They were backing off of some of our guys, trying to get us to take the quick shot, and several times we did, and they capitalized on that,” Burrell said. “And then too, we had a few chances where I felt we could’ve iced the game and we didn’t make our free throws.”

Fans chanted “Let’s go Tigers” and “Let’s go Wolfpack” during the ensuing JHS time out, and the home crowd erupted again with 47.5 seconds remaining when Jared Drexler stole an inbounds pass following a WSM time out, then drained a 3-pointer to cut the Jeanerette deficit to 48-46. Drexler had seen a 3-point shot rattle in and out with one minute showing on the clock.

After Oshaun Smith buried both ends of a one-and-one to push the lead to 40-46 four seconds later, Sparrow hit the second of two free throws to make it 50-47 with 33.3 seconds left, setting up a frantic final half-minute.

Jeanerette lost the ball on a dual possession with the arrow pointing West St. Mary’s way with 25.5 seconds remaining, but the Wolfpack missed a pair of free throws with 17.1 seconds left and Paul rebounded for the Tigers. With 9.3 seconds to go, Daylon Richard blocked a 3-point try from the wing by the Tigers, then saved the ball inbounds to a teammate, but Jeanerette got the ball back with 5.8 seconds left when he touched the sideline as he fought for the ball. Sparrow’s in-and-out shot with 0.7 seconds left was rebounded by the Wolfpack.

“I knew they were going to make their run,” Burrell said. “Basketball is a game of making runs. They’re on their home floor. I knew they didn’t want to lose to us. We were able to persevere.”

Dwayne Alexander said the Tigers made a concerted effort to take the ball out of Richard’s hands in the second half.

“We forced the other players to make some shots, and it kind of brought us back in the game,” the coach said.

Jeanerette’s foul trouble and West St. Mary’s rebounding dominance early helped the Wolfpack build its lead.

Cahyvion Alexander grabbed seven rebounds (unofficially) and scored 10 of his 12 points in the first quarter for WSM, including five on the offensive end. Alexander finished with 13 boards. Teammate James Poledore finished with 10 rebounds in the game, four on the offensive end, starting in the second quarter.

“The first half we didn’t block out at all,” Jeanerette’s coach said. “I think the first kid that started (Cahyvion Alexander), he might’ve had gotten offensive rebounds in the first quarter, and putbacks.”

Then there were the fouls. Paul picked up his second less than a minute into the game, and Tallmore had three by the 5:47 mark of the second quarter. The Wolfpack was in the bonus with a minute and a half left in the opening quarter and in the double bonus with 7:26 left in the half, while Jeanerette didn’t get its first bonus attempt until there was 4:09 left in the second quarter.

“We got a couple of technical fouls for hanging on the rim,” Alexander said. “I think the kids let the emotion of the game get to them. We kind of caught a little composure at the end, but I think if we would’ve come out a little bit better at the beginning we would’ve done much better. We probably would’ve won this game.”

West St. Mary took advantage by scoring 9 first half points at the free throw line and could’ve had more but missed eight foul shots in the half and finished 13-for-23 on the night. JHS was 1-for-2 in the half and 7-for-15 for the game at the line.

“That was a key turning point of the game in the first half,” Burrell said. “Some of the guys that I know he had to sub because he had to save his kids for the second half, and we were able to capitalize on that. It showed when those guys were back in the game in the second half how good of a team they are.”

Washington finished with 10 points for the Wolfpack, with Smith and Richard each scoring 7.

Drexler paced Jeanerette with 13 points. Sparrow and Tallmore each had 12.

Jeanerette travels to Franklin on Tuesday and WSM plays at Loreauville in district games.

“We’ve got a tough matchup next week with Franklin,” Alexander said. “Right now we’ve just to go back and practice, work hard, hopefully we can play better against Franklin.”