NISH senior Christian Walker scored 24 points in the Yellow Jacket’s dominant victory over crosstown rival Westgate on Saturday.

NISH entered the contest with a 23-1 record, winning the last eight of their games after dropping to STM in early January. Since the loss, the Yellow Jackets have returned to top form, remaining undefeated in district play and sitting in the No. 1 spot in the Division I power rankings.

Leading the offense was senior guard Christian Walker, who scored 14 points from the floor to seal the 63-36 win.

“I didn’t know he had 24, so it must’ve been a smooth 24,” said head coach Chad Pourciau after the game. “That’s two nights in a row where he did well. Last night (against Sulphur) he had three or four 3s just in the third quarter. That’s him though. He goes through stretches where he struggles but when he sees it go in the goal just gets bigger and bigger and bigger. He’s very streaky, but when he sees it go in he can knock them down and fill it up.”

The Yellow Jackets took control of the game early, outsourcing Westgate 19-6 in the first quarter before entering halftime with a 44-17 lead.

Despite entering the game as the clear favorites, Pourciau said that both teams always come ready to play against their crosstown rivals.

“Anytime you play those guys, no matter what sport, you want to compete and to win,” Pourciau said. “I was proud of how we responded because over there we had a really tough game. It was just a 10 or 11-point game and we didn’t play really well yesterday, so I was proud of the performance tonight.”

After a low-scoring 43-27 win over district opponent Sulphur the night before, NISH needed to improve offensively if they wanted to be successful against a talented and athletic Westgate team. Poiurciau said that he was happy with how the team responded to his demands.

“Offensively, the ball moved much better,” he said. “The guys were dialed in for this one. I looked at yesterday like a trap game. When you play a game with your rival right after, people can say what they want about ‘one game at a time’ but they are always looking forward to this one. It was a good bounce back.”

Despite having one of the best records in the state and sitting at the top of the Division I rankings, Pouriau said that his team hasn’t shown the consistency that he needs from them at this stage of the season.

“It hasn’t been there,” he said of his team’s consistency. “We’re 24-1 and, no knock to Teurlings, but our one loss is to a .500 team, so it shows that we can be average at times. Going forward, every possession has to matter and there has to be no lapses. If we can get some consistency, I think we can be a problem, but we’re going to have to get that handled down the stretch. We have a big week next week, three games at Sam Houston, at Southside and at STM in the Cajundome.”

The three-game series will be one of the toughest weeks that NISH will have faced all season. Sam Houston (16-12) are capable of upsetting tough opposition, especially at home, and Southside (15-11) are led by longtime NISH head coach Todd Russ. Pourciau said that the game with his former boss will be an entertaining one, adding that he hopes to get a share of the gate sales since the game will be a must-watch for basketball fans in the area.

“It’ll be fun. Russ coached here for a long time and I coached with him, so I hope he cuts me in on the admission fee because it’s going to be a packed house over there,” Pourciau said jokingly.

Following their two district contests, the Yellow Jackets will travel to the Cajundome to face off against St. Thomas Moore (26-4). STM is currently the No. 2 team in Select Division I and leads the standings in District 4-4A.

Porciau said that after the injury that sidelined junior Wayne Randall-Bashay for weeks, the team has finally regained full health at the right moment.

“Right now we’re in the driver’s seat, but we still have four games left to go. Hopefully we can close it out with a district title. After the Wayne injury, we had a few people come down with ankle and knee issues but right now we’re good. We need to stay like that. Right now we’re playing with six guys and we’re trying to trust a seventh and an eighth, built in tight situations we’re playing with just six. If we can stay healthy is going to be a big part of whether or not we can make a run.”

Randall-Bashay scored 11 points against Westgate. Kylan Dugas (7 points), Devin Frank (6 points) and Jayden Westley (6 points) also contributed to the win.

Sophomore guard Jaboree Antoine led the scoring for the Tigers with 11 points, followed by Jake Jacobs (7 points), Dedrick Latulas (6 points) and Brailon Raymond (5 points).

The Tigers currently have a 6-17 record and will return to action on Tuesday against district opponent Northside.