Westgate rallies in OT for win

ST. MARTINVILLE — Westgate High School hit eight of 10 free throws in overtime, including seven of eight by Tyron Chevalier, to beat Breaux Bridge 59-54 in a midday consolation bracket semifinal game at the St. Martinville Senior High Holiday Shootout Friday.

The Tigers had given up a double-digit lead late in the fourth quarter that allowed BBHS to send the game to OT tied at 47 but after seeing his team struggle to shoot the ball all week at the tournament, coach Oliver Winston was glad to get a tough win.

“We did a good job of hitting free throws when it counted,” Winston said.

WHS led 36-26 after three quarters before Breaux Bridge poured in 21 points in the fourth quarter, including three 3-pointers and a buzzer beating putback that tied the score at 47.

“This has been a tough week for us,” Winston said. “We came out really bad. We haven’t been shooting the ball well all week, so we’ve been having to kind of manufacture points. I thought we did a better job of that today.”

Chevalier had half of his 14 points for the game in the extra period. Keith Lopez also sank one of two foul shots in OT and three of four on the night. Keydrain Calligan hit a trio of 3-pointers in the second half to score 17 of his game-high 21 points after intermission.

Winston said the Tigers’ shooting struggles are just one of those things that happens in basketball.

“Sometimes you have those days. Sometimes you have those weeks,” he said. “You can’t just be relying on those jump shots. I’ve got a couple guys out sick right now so that limits us post-wise. But we just have to manufacture points and attack the rim. We did a little bit better job of that tonight. You can never just be a jump-shooting team, and that’s what we’re trying not to do.”

Winston said that when teams have shooters like Westgate does, they often just try to keep banging away when the shots aren’t falling. The coaches are trying to teach them that the way to get into a rhythm is to attack the rim and get easy shots and free throws.

Westgate will continue working to improve for a chance at a playoff run as the season progresses, Winston said.

“We’ve just got to keep working,” the coach said. “You just can’t look ahead. You’ve got to play every game, try to get the wins you can get and just keep pressing on and improving.”

Keyvie Eddie had 11 points and Zye Narcisse added 8 points. Westgate finished with five 3-pointers, as did BBHS.

Seth Alexander led Breaux Bridge with 15 points. Carol Davis added 12 and Trevian Sylvester had 10. Dalton Alexander had 9 points on three 3-pointers in the second half.

New Iberia 48,

Cecilia 46

In the semifinals capping off Friday action, NISH went 9-for-10 at the foul line in the fourth quarter to hold off Cecilia and advance to Saturday’s championship game.

The Yellow Jackets had to withstand five 3-pointers from Joshua Fontenette, who had a game-high 21 points for the Bulldogs.

NISH trailed early but took a 24-19 halftime lead thanks to a 17-point second quarter. The Jackets were up 32-30 after three quarters and each team had 16 in the fourth.

Alex Mandeville had 12 points, including two 3-pointers, to lead NISH. Jaqualan Lovette added 11 and Ralph Johnson had 9, including a 4-for-4 free throw effort in the fourth quarter.

Jevon Berry added 11 points for Cecilia and Kaleb Carter had 7.

St. Martinville 60,

JS Clark 56

After falling behind 49-37 after three quarters, St. Martinville outscored J.S. Clark Leadership Academy 23-4 in the fourth to rally for a win in the fifth-place bracket semifinals.

Jalen Mitchell had 15 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter, including two 3-pointers and a 7-for-8 free throw effort. Mitchell hit 10 of 11 from the line in all. Demontae Gardner had 24 points to lead the Tigers, including a 3-pointer, and went 3-for-3 at the line to help SMSH finish 16-for-19 (84 percent).

Shaquay Hunt had 12 points for the Bulldogs and Justin Washinton added 10. Joshua Stevenson had 9 points, Jason Beverly 8, Damarkus Fugett added 7 and Dwight Joseph 6 for J.S. Clark.

Patterson 52,

St. Martinville II 46

Patterson used a 21-16 third quarter to pull away from St. Martinville’s second squad in the tournament’s fifth-place bracket. PHS trailed 9-4 after one quarter but led 14-13 at halftime and 35-29 after three periods.

Tyrone Tillman led the Lumberjacks with 16 points and Reginald Talver had 13, with Elijah Williams adding 9 and Dejon Richard 8.

Brian Wiltz had 19 points for the Tigers, includin 13 in the fourth quarter. Trayvon Marshall had 14 behind four 3-pointers and Jamel Fontenette added 9 points.

Peabody 61, Tioga 58

In the other semifinal, Peabody outscored Tioga 4-1 in overtime after the Indians had forced the extra period by rallyin from a 43-41 deficit after three periods.

Dwight Simon had 24 points to lead the Warhorses, including three 3-pointers. Kyron Gibson added 14 and Darius Smith and Latavian Wagner had 10 each.

Dustin Roy had 26 points for Tioga, which went only 1-for-4 at the foul line in OT. Roy hit five 3-pointers. Ty Sanders and Landon Vercher each had one 3-pointer to finish with 8 points apiece.

Westgate 75,

Hamilton Christian 61

In the consolation bracket championship, Keyvie Eddie scored a game-high 26 points, including five 3-pointers, as Westgate rolled past Hamilton Christian 75-61 to win the consolation bracket of the St. Martinville Holiday Shootout.

Keydrain Calligan added 18 points and Jansen Mayea added 12 for the Tigers, who jumped out to a 19-11 first quarter lead and opened it up from there.

Westgate held leads of 39-28 at halftime and 51-47 at the end of the third quarter in blasting Hamilton Christian, who was led by Adrian Brown with 15 points.

WHS returns to action Tuesday when the Tigers play host to cross-town rival NISH in three game starting at 5:30 p.m.

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