Midland faces stiff challenge in bid to repeat

LAKE CHARLES – The Midland Rebels are just 32 minutes away from winning their second straight Class B state title.
There’s just one hurdle left standing in their way and it’s a big one.
A 6-foot-4 hurdle, to be exact.
Anacoco’s Will Reese posses the biggest threat to the Rebels’ repeat as he displayed in the Indians’ 65-55 upset of No. 2 seed Fairview, Wednesday in the semifinals. The junior guard/forward pumped in a game-high 28 points and had 13 rebounds in the victory.
“That kid can flat out play,” said Midland coach William Stanley of Reese, who also had five assists, three steals and one block on the night. “Fairview just couldn’t guard him.”
Against Fairview, Reese, who averages 21 points and 11 rebounds per game, played more of a guard role. He did, however, get in the paint, knocking down 10 shots inside the arc. He also connected on one of his four 3-point attempts.
Should Reese play that same role tonight, MHS senior Devin Gautreaux will be called on to defend him.
“He (Reese) brought the ball down the court a lot of the times in the semifinals and if that’s the case, I’m going to put Devin on him,” said Stanley. “Devin has had success this year against the taller guys. Against Rosepine, he played a 6-foot-5 guy and pretty much shut him down. I’m pretty confident in Devin’s ability to guard him in the open court.
“Now, if he goes in the post, we’ll have to try and put Traven (Guidry) on him.”
Reese, however, isn’t the only player that concerns Stanley.
Senior guard Samuel Turnipseed was 3-for-5 from beyond the arc and finished the night with 17 points in the semifinals.
Randy Primeaux will have the task of guarding him.
“The Turnipseed kid is also a great player,” said Stanley. “But from what I have heard from other coaches, he’s been inconsistent; he’ll either have a big night or he will throw up a goose egg.
“We going to put Randy on him because I think he will be able to bother him a little bit.”
For the Rebels, they will need the same effort and then some that they put forth in their semifinal victory over top-seeded Florien.
In that game, three Rebels scored in double figures. Guidry led the charge with 22 points while Gautreaux and Primeaux finished with 18 and 13 points, respectively. Dagan Patin also provided a spark with eight points and five rebounds off the bench.
“Getting as many guys as we did involved offensively was the key,” said Stanley. “After we stopped panicking and turning the ball over, we started moving the ball real well. Traven got loose in the open court and ended up with a bunch of layups. Once we got past those first few guards, we were pretty deadly.”
Stanley says the game plan remains the same for the finals.
“It’s pretty much the same thing as the game plan for the semifinals: we have to try and get back in transition and we’ve got to run some offense that gets a lot of guys moving in their press,” said Stanley. “And then, in the half court, offensively we just need to execute our offense. The times that we really ran our offense fast, we would get layups and we really didn’t have to take outside shots. We only took five outside shots and we made four.’
“Basically we just have to take what they are giving.”
Tipoff is 6 p.m. at Burton Coliseum.