Rayville tops Crowley in shootout
RAYVILLE – With Crowley’s athleticism and Rayville’s run-and-gun style offense, all signs pointed to a shootout Tuesday when the two teams squared off in a Class AAA regional playoff contest at the Hornets home gym.
As predicted, the game lived up to the billing.
Unfortunately for the Gents, Rayville had just a little too much firepower.
Rayville, the No. 8 seed, had four players score in double figures in a thrilling 106-102 victory over the visiting Gents.
“We knew coming in that they (Rayville) like to play an uptempo game,” said CHS coach Derrick Boone following the contest. “You can try and slow it down ,but it’s just very hard to do against this team.
“We played hard and battled, but the bottom line is that they just executed a little better than us tonight.”
Rayville took a 58-52 advantage into the half and then broke the game open in the third quarter by outscoring the Gents 26-16 behind a tenacious fullcourt press.
“We’re going to get after it now,” said Rayville coach Larry Wilson, whose team will travel to No. 1 Vidalia Friday for a quarterfinal contest. “We’re trying to score 100. If you’re going to run with us, you better be in shape.”
Crowley was up to the task in the fourth quarter despite trailing by 16 (84-68) entering the frame. The Gents went on an 18-4 run in the first 3 1/2 minutes to cut the lead to 88-86.
“We had a bad drought there in the fourth quarter,” said Wilson. “Basketball is a game of runs. You’ll get yours and if you’re playing a good team, sooner or later they’ll get theirs. We had ours and they had theirs. It just so happened theirs came at the right time to catch up.”
Rayville went on another run over the next minute, outscoring the Gents 8-2 to push the lead back to eight (92-88).
The Gents battled back again, getting within two at 100-98 on a layup and a free throw by Jerrell Andrus with 44 seconds remaining.
However, the Gents allowed Rayville’s Earl Williams to slip away from the defense on the ensuing inbounds play and score an uncontested basket on a Hail Mary pass down court.
T.J. Clement answered with a jumper in the lane, cutting the lead to 104-102 with just two seconds remaining before Williams iced the game with two free throws.
“We got within two (points) a few times down the stretch, but we kind of ran out of gas,” said Boone. “It was a mixture of everything tonight. We had some calls that didn’t go our way and we had a few missed assignments here and there. In a game of this magnitude, the margin for error is very minimal and we made a few too many mistakes tonight.”
And when the Gents made mistakes, Rayville’s Jamarcus Murphy and Phauinton Lawson seemed to be there every time to make them pay. Murphy led the Hornets with 25 points and Lawson added 24.
“We had to box out No. 24 (Murphy) and No. 12 (Lawson) because they are real good and we just didn’t do that well tonight,” said Boone.
Earl Williams also played a key role in the victory, knocking down three of the Hornets’ 11 3-pointers on the night. He finished with 22 points.
Crowley drained five 3-pointers on the night. Senior guard Therion Beverly accounted for four of those long balls, hitting three straight early in the fourth quarter to get the Gents back in the game before fouling out with just over a minute to play.
“Therion was hot down the stretch and really helped us get back in it,” said Boone. “But he had four fouls and ended up fouling out and that really hurt us.”
Andrus and Michael Harmon also ended their prep careers on a high note by scoring 34 and 26 points, respectively. Beverly followed with 16 points and Clement had 12. Tuskani Figaro, Donovan Montgomery and D’Myrus Daniels each added four points and Henterrio Guidry had two.
“I told the kids that before the game that if we gave four quarters of effort and hustle, we would like the outcome,” said Boone. “And we almost got it this time. We played hard for four quarters, we just came up a little short.”
Crowley finished one of its best seasons in recent history with an overall mark of 21-9 and a district championship, the team’s first league title in 21 years.
“I’m proud of the guys,” said Boone. “They fought hard tonight and they fought hard all year long. As a coach, that’s all I can ask for.”