Tigers Clinch 8-I Title

Can a team unbeaten in district play and riding a nine game winning streak get any better overnight?

The Terrebonne Tigers say yes after senior first team All-State point guard Tramel White transferred from Acadiana Preparatory School in Opelousas to Terrebonne High on Feb 2.

With White added the team, the Tigers’ (18-8, 11-0) winning streak is now at 13 games, and they clinched the District 8-I title on Tuesday with a 63-44 home victory over South Terrebonne.

White had homecoming of sorts with a 98-68 victory against the team he led to the Division I state championship game last year, the H.L. Bourgeois Braves.

“It felt a little weird coming back here (Bourgeois), but it also feels good come back to our old school and get a win,” he said. “It’s just another game so when we can win the district championship and go on to the state championship.”

White said he returned to the Terrebonne Parish School System because he needs a foreign language credit that Acadiana did not offer to graduate in May.

“I have to pass Spanish to go a Division I college and get a scholarship,” he said. Getting that passing grade is more important than basketball right now.”

White lives in Houma, which means he had to attend Terrebonne High. If he went to Bourgeois, he would not have been eligible to play sports.

During his junior year, White averaged 23 points, 7 assists and 4 rebounds a game for the Braves. This season, he upped his scoring to 25 points per game at Acadiana.

White has been coming off the bench since his Feb. 6 debut. Despite his high profile status, Tigers coach Bryon McPherson said he was not tempted to put White in the starting lineup.

“Tramel is accepting his role. He’s coming to give us a lift off the bench,” McPherson said. “My guys have been playing well all season. I got my rotation, so he’s just an added help to us. He’s good with it. I’m good with it. The team’s good with it. So it’s working right now.”

He added, “Tramel is a good basketball player, so he understands what it takes to fit in with the team. Anytime you add a player like that, it makes the transition easier.”

White and his new teammates seemed to have meshed well very quickly. He has been doing whatever it takes to help win games.

In his first game against Assumption, he scored 23 points. In the next game versus South Lafourche, he only eight points, but was a big factor on defense, blocking three shots and altering other Tarpon shots. Against Bourgeois, he had 13 points.

“We were already winning. I just want to add on to that,” White said. “I’ve been playing with these dudes my whole life. They accept me. I accept them.”

Terrebonne is ranked ninth this week’s Louisiana Sports Writers’ Association Division I poll. They can finish the season undefeated in district action with a win Friday at the Thibodaux Tigers.

“Anytime you can win in this district it’s a good feeling,” McPherson said. “We’re just going to keep on with business as usual. We not even thinking about outright or sharing district title. We want to keep improving so we can advance in the playoffs.”

Terrebonne made the playoffs last year as a wildcard entry but lost in the bi-district round 72-61 to Destrehan.

McPherson put up the newspaper articles of their loss on the locker room walls, so it is the first thing his team see when they walk in.

“I got them laminated. They can see the headlines in bold print,” he said. “They know they had a bad showing in a game we should have won. That playoff lost made them hungry. The guys are coming out and they want to win.”

Before district play began, the Tigers’ poor shooting, high turnover margin and weak interior defense distressed the coach.

But the team has turned it around and McPherson does not take any credit for that.

“The guys got together and decided they didn’t like that way they were playing earlier,” he said. “So they took it upon themselves to start playing harder. We buckled down and played some lock down defense. You can see the difference in the team now from early in the season.”

He added, “We’ve spent a lot of time in the gym practicing our shooting drills. It’s still not where it should be, but it’s a lot better than it was at the beginning of the season.”

White has his own playoff demon to exorcise – a 75-55 loss in the state championship game to Lafayette last year.

For him, only a return trip to the Cajun Dome and hoisting the state title trophy will suffice

“I’m not worried about all the individual stuff. My role is to do everything and anything to help us win a state championship,” he said. “That’s the only thing I haven’t won yet.”