Gents prevail with fourth quarter surge

Notre Dame coach Donald Adams knows the Crowley High Gents well. 

He told his team to expect the Gents to make them fight for every point, that they would be a tough out.

He knew it could happen, but that doesn’t take the sting out of Friday’s 65-53 loss to the Gents. Now Adams and the Pioneers reluctantly sit at 7-7.

“(Crowley) stayed with it,” said Adams. “I told them (Crowley) was going to fight ‘til the end. It could have gone our way, but momentum flipped. Now we’re at 7-7. 

“The ball games we won, we executed four good quarters. We would have liked to have this one, but we’ll get ready for the next one.”

The other, golden, side of Crowley’s coin is far brighter. The adjustments made by the Gents and coach Derrick Boone’s staff lifted Crowley to a come-from-behind victory and allowed the Gents to improve to 3-5.

“I told these guys it was going to be close and that we would have to play smarter ball toward the end,” said Boone. “We played smarter in the second half.”

For the back-and-forth game, hosted by Notre Dame, it came down to Crowley’s “controlled chaos” being harnessed properly in the second half and free throws, all of which culminated at the end of the third quarter and the fourth quarter. That was when the momentum swung and the Pioneers could not seem to do anything about it.

“Our free throw shooting was dismissal in the first half,” said Boone. “In the second half, we picked it up a little bit and it’s like we got our groove in the fourth quarter.

“Our tempo (coming in) was going to be ‘controlled chaos’ where we remained in control but were aggressive. I know Notre Dame does not do well when passing under pressure, so that’s what we did and we didn’t bail them out by committing fouls in the fourth quarter, and really the second half.”

“We lost our composure in the fourth quarter,” said Adams. “We played three good quarters of basketball, but we weren’t able to score in the fourth, and that was really a turning point. Anytime you’re not able to score in the fourth quarter, that puts you in a bad situation. You got to finish.”

The Gents entered the third quarter down five and a quick surge and pressure defense got Crowley to tie with 5:31 remaining in the quarter. They regained the lead seconds later.

Some could have called the third quarter foreshadowing and while the Gents had done enough to stay in the ball game in the first half, in the second half it was a different battle.

Now, the game had turned back into what it was in the early seconds of the ball game, both teams fighting for every point, but instead of Notre Dame doing just enough to make their shots fall and cause a few more turnovers, that was Crowley’s role in the third.

Shot-for-shot the two teams went and with just under 3 minutes left in the quarter, Notre Dame found the lead again. Crowley kept the pace, however, and with the Pioneers up 43-40 and Crowley holding the final possession the Gents would once again tie the game. But, this time it would be a three-point shot from Jaco Price at the buzzer and the game was once again tied at 43.

From there out, it was the Crowley Gents game to lose.

Earlier in the game, free throws had a bit to do how Crowley was able to stay within striking distance, but in the second half, and particularly the fourth quarter, the Gents’ free throws fell true more often.

Crowley would hit 10 of 14 free throws in the frame, helping the Gents to pull farther and farther away.

In the final quarter, Notre Dame took one more step to cement itself as leader, taking a 47-44 lead early, but this time it wouldn’t be Crowley doing enough to hang around and back-to-back fouls on Marcus Williams led to four extra points for Crowley.

Then, Crowley’s defense began forcing turnovers, which turned into points for the visitors. And the score gap widened. The Gents went from a two-point lead (50-48) with 4:35 remaining to a six-point lead (54-48) with 3:49 left all the way to a 14-point lead (62-48) with 1:57 remaining.

The fury of scoring and defense was not stopped by Notre Dame until there was less than a minute remaining and a Pioneers shot finally fell. But, it was far too late for the home team.

The Gents’ Price led his team with 25 points. Adding to the Gents’ totals were Tyrin Daniels’ nine points, Mylan Stevens’ nine points, Williams’ eight points, Bryston Domino’s six points, Charles Onezine’s five points, and Tiron Foreman’s three points.

Notre Dame’s Tre Milstead lead the way with 25 points of his own. Pioneers’ John Duos had 10 points, Ethan Smith had seven, Clayton Johnson had four, Hunter Meche had three and Tyler Simar and Brent Didier each had two.

Both teams will be in action next Tuesday, Jan. 7 as Crowley hosts Beau Chene and Notre Dame travels to Opelousas Catholic.

Boys basketball action

Kinder 58, Iota 57

KINDER – A fourth quarter rally fell just short for the Iota as the Kinder Yellowjackets took a 58-57 victory over the Bulldogs Friday night.

Kinder led at the end of each frame, 12-7, 31-25, 47-38 and finally 58-57.

Leading the way for the Iota Bulldogs in the close defeat was Luke Reed with 17 points and Curtis Antoine with 12. Kyle Smith and Garrett Reppond each added nine points and Tristan Fontenot added six points. Chase Doucet and Zack Hebert rounded out the Bulldogs’ scorers with two points each.

Iota fell to 8-9 with the loss. The Bulldogs will host Church Point Friday, Jan. 10.

Girls basketball action

Notre Dame 80, Northside 53

CROWLEY – Hosting 10-6 Northside, the Lady Pios of Notre Dame (10-4) picked up their 10th win of the season Thursday night, dropping Northside to 10-7.

The 80-53 victory extended the Lady Pios win streak to three. In Thursday’s contest, the Lady Pios were led by Alex Miller’s 24 points, Annie Matthews’ 17 points, Sam Lyons’ 17 points and Gabbie Romero’s 11 points. Adding to the fray were Elise LeBeouf with seven points and Hannah Esthay with four.

Scores and statistics from Notre Dame’s game against St. Louis were not immediately available. The Lady Pios travel to St. Joseph’s Academy Tuesday, Jan. 7.

Midland 49, North Vermilion 39

MIDLAND – Despite an early lead of 10-8 by North Vermilion Friday night, it was the Midland Lady Rebels coming out with a “W” to the tune of 49-39.

Tied 23-23 at the half, the second half is where Midland put separation between itself and its competition, leading 35-31 at the end of the third quarter and 49-39 at the end.

Midland, which improved to13-11, was led by 14-point nights from Macy Hoffpauir and Nicole Kraut and a 10-point night from Kristen Breaux. Tori Craigen added five points and Brooke Comeaux, Elizabeth Istre and Katie Woods each had two.

The Lady Rebels begin district play Tuesday, Jan. 7 by hosting Bell City.