Gents rally past Iota to reach tourney finals

VILLE PLATTE – Apparently, the Crowley Gents like new head coach Jason Lewis’ pressing style of play.
For the second time in as many days, they used their pressure defense to break open a tight game and pull away for another victory.
Tuesday, it was against the Iota Bulldogs in the Sacred Heart of Ville Platte Tournament.
The Bulldogs led by as many as seven on three separate occasions and, for the most part, they were able to withstand Crowley’s pressuring defense.
But that changed at 2:53 mark of the third quarter.
At that point, the Gents went to a full-court press that baffled the Bulldogs and resulted in a 10-2 run to finish the frame.
They wound up outscoring the Bulldogs 20-9 in the third quarter and went on from there to claim their spot in Wednesday’s title game with a 58-47 victory.
“We were a little complacent early on and they (Iota) were able to jump out on us,” said Lewis, whose team improved to 3-0 with the victory. “This is the third game in a row where teams were able to attack us early on. But to our credit, we made some adjustments at the half and we played some solid defense.
“Early on, they were splitting our half-court defense apart so decided to extend it; make them play the length of the court, where we are at our best, where we are quicker and we’re faster.”
During the outburst in the third quarter, the Gents forced countless turnovers, which was ultimately Iota’s downfall.
“That team (Crowley) is very good, but we made some costly mistakes tonight,” said IHS coach Stacy Bertrand. “We have to be able to handle the pressure and we did to an extent. But the pressure ended up getting to us and our passing and turnovers killed us.”
The Gents pushed their lead to as many as 16 (52-36) early in the fourth quarter behind six points from Jacq’Co Price as well as baskets from Grant Trahan and Alkwan Wesby.
The Bulldogs wouldn’t go down without a fight though.
Triston Fontenot canned a 3-pointer to cut into the lead and Bray Latiolais followed with a jumper in the paint to get the Dogs within 11.
From there, the two teams traded baskets until the final horn.
Overall, the Gents had three players score in double figures. Price was once again the leader with 17 points, 13 in the second half, while Trahan poured in 13 points. Tyrin Daniels followed with 12 points.
Wesby added nine big points off the bench in the victory and Chris Osten had two and Quanterral Robinson finished with three.
“At one point, Alkwan was a starter, but we both agreed that he would be a better player for us coming off the bench,” said Lewis of Wesby. “He accepted his role; so when he gets in, he knows what he has to do and he has been a big contributor for us thus far.”
Latiolais was the high-man for the Bulldogs, torching the nets for a game-high 24 points.
Triston Fontenot also hit double figures with 12 points.
“Bray had a big game for us,” said Bertrand. “He took some good shots and he did well. Triston did some good things, too.
“For us, we have to have three (players) score in double figures and it might not be the same three every night. You can’t just key in on one guy, it just depends on where the opportunities are.”
Landon LeJeune added six points for the Bulldogs, Chase Doucet scored three and Kade Hebert had two.”
For the Gents, the victory gives them their first 3-0 start in recent memory. And for Lewis, as a coach, it’s his first 3-0 start ever.
“Out of my 12 years of coaching basketball, this is my first time going 3-0,” said Lewis. “And this team, these kids have never been 3-0 or even 2-0 and here we are in championship game so it’s big for us and our program.”
The loss, albeit disappointing, had its positives for Bertrand.
“The pressure kind of got to us because we’re not used to playing guys that size yet. But we’re going to meet the same thing, if not better, in our district so this was a good learning experience for us,” said Bertrand.
Iota took on the winner of Tuesday morning’s loser’s bracket contest between Notre Dame and Pine Prairie, but results of that contest were not available at press time. The winner of that contest took on Crowley in the championship game late Tuesday night.