In the final district game of the season, Jeanerette dominated the third quarter to push the team past rival Loreauville before sealing the win with phenomenal free throw shooting.

Jekylon Ward led the scoring for the Tigers with 20 points and 83.3 percent free throw accuracy. Traville Fredrick (13 points), Javin Eugene (10 points), and Tre’Lijah Dauphine (6 points) also contributed to the win.

Trailing by a point going into the half, Jeanerette needed to give themselves some breathing room in the third quarter. Solid performances by everyone brought the Tigers to a 39-34 lead going into the final quarter. With only 5 points scored from open play, Jeanerette demonstrated their mental discipline by scoring 9 out of their 11 free throws in the final quarter to win.

Jeanerette head coach Dwayne Alexander said that his team’s record doesn’t provide the full picture, and that many of the Tiger’s losses were still very close.

“We’ve been in just about every game, and we’ve always had a chance to win it at the end, so we finally put one together,” he said.

Speaking on his team’s free throw accuracy in the fourth quarter, Alexander explained that he has focused on improving his team’s free throws in the last weeks of the season.

“At the beginning of the season, we were at about 80% on free throws and then we kind of tailed off. We concentrated a lot in the last couple of weeks on free throws and I told my seniors that they have to lead by example and come up big. They came up big tonight.”

Jeanerette entered their final game sitting just outside of a playoff spot, but their big win over Loreauville may be just enough to secure a postseason appearance.

“I hope so, but if not, we always look forward to next year. We have a good team. The team was based on a bunch of sophomores last year, so I think we’ll be okay.”

“I think we’re hovering around 33 or 34,” said Alexander. “This team has handled a lot of adversity, one of my best players broke his ankle yesterday, and the guys came up big for him.”

According to the LHSAA unofficial power ratings released on Friday, Jeanerette have risen to the No. 29 seed and will qualify for the playoffs. Final brackets will be released on Monday.