Crime Blotter: Reported offenses in the Tri-parishes
January 3, 2013
Bertman to speak at NSU
January 8, 2013
Treavon Evans remembers it like it was yesterday.
He smiles with pride remembering the day that he and the 11-12-year-old Larose All-Stars won a Biddy Basketball World Championship.
“It was great – especially the way that we won it,” Evans said. “It was a 39-8 win against Morgan City in the Finals. I remember it like it just happened. It was in the Alario Center and it was just an awesome team win. I’ll never forget that day the rest of my life.”
Evans’ young success was a sign of things to come.
Since that faithful day, he’s graduated from a bulldog and has become a fish – a senior guard for the South Lafourche Tarpons’ team.
He wears the title well – he’s easily among the biggest fish in the pond that is the Bayou District.
Thanks to a combination of diligence, experience and talent, Evans is among the driving forces behind a Tarpons team hoping to make a push at the playoffs.
He is among the team’s leading scorers. He is one of the top players in the area.
“He’s just a tremendous athlete,” South Lafourche coach Brian Callais said. “We can take advantage of him sometimes in the lane with the things that he does for us. … He’s as athletic as you can be.”
A commitment to being successful
Anyone who’s been to a South Lafourche basketball game in the past three years knows who Evans is – his play speaks for itself. He’s been a starter since his earliest days with the program.
Anyone throughout the area who reads the daily paper will also be familiar with his name – a regularly occurring one in the Wednesday and Saturday editions after Tarpons’ games.
But those around Evans will be the first to admit that he isn’t afraid to work hard to reach his goals.
Just look at his style of play as an example.
Evans scores most of his points inside of the 3-point line. Some of the baskets come in the lane where he either scores or gets fouled.
But others come around the perimeter within his mid-range game – he possesses one of the most consistent strokes in the area.
Evans said that jumper is the product of countless hours in the gym and several thousands of shots.
“I remember my sophomore year, me and my old teammate Greg Curole would just shoot 250 mid-range shots a day,” Evans said. “If you want to know the truth – that’s where I got it – the practice. I didn’t have it like that before I got here. It was the practice that did it.”
South Lafourche football coach Dennis Skains knows a thing or two about Evans and practice.
After all, when Evans isn’t on the basketball court, he’s doubling as an All-District wide receiver for the Tarpons’ district championship football team.
Skains said during the Tarpons’ season that Evans was a hard worker and a catalyst to the team.
“He’s just a great kid,” Skains said. “He really is. He’s quick. He’s athletic. He’s elusive and he also is one of those guys who is pretty easy to coach. You don’t have to tell him much to get him to do things the right way.”
Callais can attest to Skains’ thoughts.
Evans is currently sacrificing himself for the sake of the Tarpons’ success.
The Larose native started his high school career as a guard – a position that he thrived at.
But with several of the team’s tallest players having graduated after last season, Evans is being asked to play the post a lot in 2012-13 – an assignment he willingly accepted.
“I told both him and Silas Griffin that it’s unfair that we have to kind of play them out of position to help us have success,” Callais said. “But Treavon … understands that he’s going to have to play the post for us at times. He’s doing a great job.”
Evans said he accepts his assignment and would do “anything to help the team win.”
He just didn’t realize how hard it would be to play in the post.
In last Wednesday’s district-opening win against Terrebonne, Evans was on the block for the duration of the game – playing every minute of the contest.
“I didn’t realize it’d be this hard,” he said with a laugh following the game.
“He’s exhausted,” Callais said. “He said, ‘I didn’t know you had to work that hard in the post,’ because he played the whole game in the post area for us.”
He fared quite well. He led all scorers with 20 points. The Tarpons earned a sound victory. Two nights later against Westgate, he scored 25.
One last ride to the playoffs?
Evans has just one final lap around the Bayou District before he’s off to college. He plans to make it count.
The guard said he is approaching every game the remainder of the season with a sense of urgency. He wants to help his team push toward a district championship and the playoffs.
In last Wednesday’s win against Terrebonne, he was the team’s spark on both offense and defense – one of the driving forces in a solid win.
“There’s no more second chances or anything like that,” Evans said. “For me, this is my last time doing it, so I’m going to do my best to give it my all every, single time that I go on the court.”
Callais said he has no doubt Evans will do that and more.
The coach said Evans’ experience is the best thing that a coach could have.
“You can’t beat experience,” Callais said. “He’s been a player here for us these last three years. He’s been getting a lot of playing time and that’s for a reason – he deserves it.”
Evans said as his final weeks with the Tarpons’ basketball team draw near, he has just one focus: leading the team into the playoffs and winning once there.
South Lafourche has lost in the opening round of the playoffs every year of Evans’ career.
He wants more this time around.
The senior wants to end his high school career the same way he ended his Biddy days – going out as a champion.
“That’s my only focus right now – to help us win,” Evans said. “That’s it – to win. I just want us to keep moving forward and to win as many games as we can.
“All of the individual stuff – that’s all great, but it doesn’t mean anything if we’re not winning games. We think we can play with everyone in Louisiana and we really hope to keep going to try and show everyone that it’s true.”
South Lafourche guard Treavon Evans soars through the air for a one-handed layup
