ST. MARTINVILLE – The hottest area boys basketball team is Loreauville High, which has won six straight games. The Tigers’ two most recent wins came this week in the Darrel Mitchell Sr. Holiday Classic at St. Martinville Senior High.

LHS (8-3) beat Cecilia 52-39 and Acadiana 49-40 to advance to Friday’s semifinal round vs. Southside (9-2).

“We’ve never played a late game in one of these tournaments,” LHS coach Darrell Caesar. “It’s going to be very fun for them to experience a semifinal game at 6:30 P.M. in the evening. I told them that to kind of motivate them.”

The wins over Class 4A Cecilia and Class 5A Acadiana have provided an added benefit in the form of power points for the Class 2A Tigers, who have moved up to No. 5 in the Division III non-select power ratings.

“You always want to play up, especially as a small school,” Caesar said of tackling larger-school competition. “When you beat those teams, it’s a plus.”

The Tigers went 2-3 to begin the season with losses to Class 5A New Iberia and Class 4A programs North Vermilion and Teurlings Catholic. LHS began its winning streak by defeating Abbeville 55-32. A trio of wins at the Teurlings Catholic Round-Robin preceded this week’s tourney.

“I think the light bulb just finally clicked,’ Caesar said. “We’re doing a great job of playing team defense.”

The Tigers haven’t allowed more than 49 points in a single game during their winning streak. They’re also making free throws, sinking 20 shots from the charity stripe in the win over Acadiana.

Kylon Polk, who led all scorers with 18 points, was 6 for 6 from the line in the fourth quarter.

“Free throws can make or break you,” Caesar said. “If you’re making them down the stretch and you have the lead, you’re going to win.”

Dylan Singleton scored 13 points vs. Acadiana with Tahj Spencer adding nine points followed by Vaschon Blount (6) and Pharrel Nora (3).

The 6-foot-3, 275-pound Singleton gives Caesar a unique weapon on the offensive end of the floor.

“Dylan is very special,” he said. “You can’t find a big guy who can move like that. He can handle the ball. He can shoot. (Against Acadiana), he went down into the paint, which is something I’ve been trying to get him to do for a while. He had a great inside/outside game, which makes it hard for people to defend.”

As far as improvements, Caesar wants to see the Tigers snatch more loose balls and do a better job of rebounding. Continued defensive prowess is critical.

“Nobody has scored 50 points on us (during the winning streak),” he said. “Defensively, that tells me we’re doing a great job. If you play defense, you usually have a shot to win.”