Bruce J. Hebert
December 11, 2006
Houma man leads police on chase
December 13, 2006
In the championship game of the H.L. Bourgeois-hosted Casey Kozminski Memorial Tournament, the Ellender Patriots played the role of unruly guests, defeating the Braves 76-67.
The Patriots used a 19-9 second quarter to give themselves enough breathing room to defeat their District 6-5A rival. “I’m sure that’s the difference in the whole game, if you look at it,” said H.L. Bourgeois coach Andrew Caillouet. “We outscored them … 45-42 in the second half, and I’m sure it was within a few points in the first quarter … so yes, that’s the difference in the game.”
As a matter of fact, the first-quarter difference was just two points, a 15-13 Ellender advantage. However, the Patriots (12-0) patented pressure defense set the tone in the second quarter by forcing seven Braves’ (6-5) turnovers and holding them just nine points. “The difference in the game was our pressure defense, once again, which is no secret,” said Patriots’ coach Scott Gauthreaux. “We’re not very big, so we’ve got to get after people and make them play to our style. We like to cause turnovers, and once again, I’m sure y’all are tired of writing about this in the paper, but our defense is an extension of our offense.”
Gauthreaux’s “extension” analogy rang true, as the Patriots caused numerous turnovers that resulted in easy transition baskets. “We like to cause turnovers and get easy baskets,” he said.
Ellender started the second quarter with a 6-0 run, with all points coming from the free-throw line, to take a 21-13 lead. H.L. Bourgeois got back in the game, keyed by five of its own free throws, making it 21-20.
With 3:21 remaining the half, Kiamni Washington’s layup pulled the Braves within 23-22. However, the Patriots went on a 12-0 run to finish the half. The run started with transition baskets by Jesse Turner and Sterling Jones. Jones, who led all scorers with 31 points, added a three-pointer to make it 30-22.
The teams went into halftime with Ellender holding a 34-22 lead.
Early in the third quarter, it appeared the Patriots would continue to pull away, extending its lead to 43-26 on a Turner layup.
However, the Braves slowly got back in the game, making it 50-44 with 1:14 in the quarter. Mark Lewis (22 points) keyed the Braves rally with nine points.
Ellender extended its lead to 55-46 at the end of the third quarter.
While Ellender appeared to have control of the game, 70-56, the Braves made a late run to cut it to 70-64 with 50 seconds in the game. Philip Jackson (11 points) and Drew Werther connected on three pointers, and Josh Lee put in an offensive rebound to cut the deficit to six.
Werther connected on another three to make it 73-67, but Ellender’s 6-for-8 free-throw shooting in the final 35 seconds clinched the win.
On the game, the Patriots were 18-for-27 on free throws, while H.L. Bourgeois was just 9-for-15. “(Ellender) did a good job and got to the free-throw line,” said Caillouet. “We shot 20-for-53 from the floor. A little bit worse than 40 percent. They cause you to do that, but if we have a normal shooting night, we put 10 more up on the board and it’s anybody’s ballgame. It was anybody’s ballgame as it was.”
Caillouet added that his team’s performance proves to him that it can hang with anyone in the area. “We keep playing like that, obviously we’ll be alright,” he said. “Nobody around here obviously right now is any better than Ellender, so if you prove you can go with them, then I think you prove if you play at that level you can play with anybody.”
Meanwhile, Gauthreaux preached against complacency. “We can’t get complacent,” he said. “(We’re 12-0), the media’s starting to cover the games a little more. We lost eight guys last year, and the bull’s eye was kind of small. Just because we’re Ellender, we had a bull’s eye on our back, but now it’s getting bigger because we’re winning.”
