Mar’Keyvrick Eddie (15) of Westgate drives past Ignatius Patt (0) of Breaux Bridge during a District 5-4A basketball game Friday.

Westgate put an end to Breaux Bridge’s nine-game win streak Friday by playing consistent basketball for the third straight game, and put themselves in position to start climbing the power rankings in a wide-open Class 4A field after handing BBHS its first district loss of the season.

The Tigers (11-14 overall, 4-2 district)) held off a fourth-quarter charge and took control early in overtime to beat Breaux Bridge, which was fifth in the latest unofficial Class 4A power rankings released this week by the Louisiana High School Athletic Association, 78-70. WHS was 28th in those same power rankings but could move into the low 20s with a pair of wins this week against St. Martinville (13th in the power rankings) and Abbeville (26th).

“This time of the year, freshmen are sophomores and sophomores are juniors, and we’ve been playing better and better,” Westgate coach Oliver Winston said. “We’ve been losing close games to some big-time teams, and tonight we knocked down free throws when it counted, and I thought we defended fairly well when it counted. I think the kids kind of grew up a little bit, and that’s important.”

Westgate’s growth showed in the way the Tigers responded to adversity early and late. Breaux Bridge (20-8, 6-1) jumped out to an 8-2 lead in the first 2 ½ minutes of the game before Westgate stormed back for a 20-16 lead after one quarter. The Tigers led 33-32 at halftime and 46-44 after three quarters, with their biggest lead at 43-38 with four minutes left in the third period on a layup by Anachack Phomthirath after picking the ball up in a loose ball scramble on Breaux Bridge’s half of the court.

The teams battled the entire fourth quarter, which saw six lead changes and a tie score on eight occasions, including at 63-63 at the end of the period.

The extra period was all Westgate, starting with a pair of free throws by Phomthirath and a drive to the basket by Tyron Chevalier for a 67-63 lead. The Tigers went 13-for-14 at the line in overtime and 5-for-6 in the fourth quarter with one attempt negated by a lane violation, giving the Tigers a clutch 18-for-20 effort (90 percent) with the game on the line after the third period. BBHS coach Chad Pourciau noted the number of late free throws after the game.

“First of all, they’re a good basketball team,” Pourciau said. “Second thing we did wrong is, they’re young, so we’ve got to put them away early, and we didn’t. We let them hang around. I’m just going to be honest — when you let teams hang around, the officials can get you. If you put them away, the officials can’t get you.”

Westgate led only twice in the fourth quarter after Breaux Bridge had tied it at 46-46 less than 15 seconds into the quarter — at 61-59 on two free throws by Phomthirath and at 63-61 on an inbounds pass from the sideline to Jacoby Colbert in the low post. Colbert dribbled one way, then spun the other for a short shot that gave WHS the lead with 42.6 seconds to go.

Breaux Bridge tied it up on a pair of free throws by Cordarian Duhon with 22 seconds remaining. Westgate had three scoring opportunities with just under 10 seconds to go after missing a shot and twice tapping the ball back up, and Breaux Bridge missed a shot with 3.1 seconds left.

After falling behind by 4 in the extra period, Breaux Bridge clawed to within 69-67 on two free throws by Duhon with 1:38 to go, but Westgate went on an 7-0 run over the next minute, all at the foul line, including a pair of technical foul shots and two additional free throws with 40.3 seconds left.

Phomthirath was 5-for-6 at the line in the final 1:09 and 9-for-10 in OT. He finished with a game-high 34 points, including a pair of 3-pointers and a 16-for-18 night (89 percent) at the free throw line. Chevalier added 19 points with three 3-pointers and went 4-for-4 at the line, including 2-for-2 in OT. Deondre Spencer also was 2-for-2 in overtime.

Mar’Keyvrick Eddie added 9 points with a pair of 3-pointers for the Tigers.

Breaux Bridge, meanwhile, went 7-for-8 at the line in the fourth quarter but only 2-for-2 in OT. The visiting Tigers were 20-for-29 on the night to Westgate’s 25-for-35. Westgate also had seven 3-pointers to two for Breaux Bridge.

The visitors’ two big men, Ignatius Patt and Tyrick Davis, had most of their scoring success inside but each fouled out in overtime. Patt led BBHS with 22 points, going 10-for-14 at the foul line. Davis and Duhon each had 15 points and David Lee added 9.

“We let them hang around, and that was our fault, and that’s why they got us in the end,” Porciau said. “If we would have put them away early, it would’ve been no problem, but we just couldn’t put them away. We just didn’t have it tonight.”

Winston said he wishes the Tigers had started playing more consistent ball a week or two earlier, but feels his team can make headway in the coming week.

“The effort’s always been there, but it’s just the execution part,” the coach said. “We’ve still got to clean up out of bounds (plays). We might have had three turnovers (two from under their own goal). Little things like that. Great game against a good team. We hit free throws. It’s just a good win for us.”

As for the playoffs, Winston said he thinks things are wide open.

“I don’t mind being a lower seed, as long as we play like this,” he said. “I think if we keep growing like we’re growing, and it’s going to be important Tuesday if we can play two games back-to-back like this.”

Porciau said there may be a silver lining to the loss.

“You know, I’m glad this happened before the playoffs, because once you lose in the playoffs, it’s done,” he said. “So maybe we can reflect on this and take some positives and take some negatives (to learn from). We did some good things. We let them play harder than us at times, which is not acceptable, but we’ll learn from it and hopefully we know what this feeling’s like so it doesn’t happen again.”

Breaux Bridge 47, Westgate 31

Westgate was within a couple of points of Breaux Bridge in the girls’ game Friday before BBHS pulled away in the fourth quarter, outscoring the host team 18-6 in the final period.

Caitlin Davis had a game-high 25 points for Breaux Bridge and Amber Aubry added 9. Each hit one 3-point shot.

Lakerriel Nicholas led Westgate with 13 points and Arireonce Evans had 10. Each went 2-for-2 at the foul line and Nicholas hit Westgate’s only 3-pointer.

Westgate 67, Cecilia 53

CECILIA — Anachack Phomthirath had 18 points and Deondre Spencer added 9 as Westgate beat Cecilia in a district game Monday.

Tyron Chevalier had 8 points, Keith Lopez 7 and Oteder Foster, Mar’Keyvrick Eddie and James Poledore 6 each in a balanced scoring effort for the Tigers. Phomthirath and Eddie each had two 3-pointers and Phomthirath also went 6-for-7 at the foul line.

Westgate led 33-29 at halftime after the teams went into the second quarter tied at 15. WHS outscored the Bulldogs 19-11 in the third quarter to start pulling away.

Kaleb Carter and Donald Calais had 12 each and Joshua Fontenot added 11 for CHS.