Thomas
BATON ROUGE -- For the first time in nearly eight minutes once Walker had regained the lead -– this time for keeps –- the Wildcats seemed re-energized by the swing in momentum.
Trent Montgomery’s free throw and Brian Thomas’ finish in transition -– on a feed from Jalen Cook -– provided the Wildcats with an edge over Madison Prep Academy with less than four minutes to go and appeared to send a jolt of energy throughout the entire team.
On the following possession, Montgomery rhythmically began clapping on the defensive end, while guard Calvin Watson tried valiantly to dive on the floor for a loose ball.
“We all want to win, and you have to play defense and get loose balls to win,” Thomas said. “We had to dig deep and give it everything we had. To keep persevering.”
The reigning Class 5A state champions did just that, rallying from a four-point deficit with a 12-0 run midway through the second half with Cook and Thomas combining on 10 of those points, leading Walker to a 52-44 victory Friday on the home floor of reigning Class 3A state champion Madison Prep.
The Wildcats finished with a 3-2 record in the two-day event: also defeating New Iberia (56-38) and Westgate (54-46), while falling to Division V state champion Jehovah-Jireh (63-46) and traditional Class 4A power Bossier (42-41).
“I knew these guys had some resiliency in them,” Walker coach Anthony Schiro said. “It goes back to last season and the way the state championship ended. They’ve got a mental toughness about them and picked up the intensity a notch. That’s good for the older guys to show that resiliency, that never quit desire and it gets the younger guys understanding how we do things.”
The Cook-to-Thomas combination worked for three consecutive trips down the floor with Thomas – the Class 5A state title game MVP – scoring on lay-ups each time to finish with 14 points.
“We just like to play defense and get loose balls and when we do that, it leads to easy offense,” Thomas said.
Cook finalized his game-high 21-point output, including 13 in the first half, with four straight free throws to cap Walker’s stretch of 12 unanswered points that made it 50-40 with 52 seconds remaining.
The Wildcats made their last five shots of the game, the final one coming on a lay-up from Montgomery, who had 10 points, after another assist from Cook to maintain a double-figure lead.
MPA, which shot 28% in the second half, only made 2 of its last 17 shots which included six misses from 3-point range.
“I thought our defensive intensity picked up over the last nine minutes,” Schiro said. “We started closing some gaps and making their shots more difficult which led to some easy transition for us which is what we do. Good defense leads to easy offense for us.”
Cook scored six straight points to give Walker an 8-2 lead in the first half (games were two, 18-minute halves with a running clock). The Wildcats, who shot 50% (11 of 22), increased their lead to as many as 10 (26-16) when Cook scored in transition before leading 30-22 at halftime.
MPA went on a 10-2 run out of the locker room and limited Walker to 2 of 9 shooting, eventually opening a 38-34 lead on a 3-pointer at the 9:37 mark.
“Madison Prep did a good job of coming out with pressure and traps, which forced us into some turnovers,” Schiro said. “I didn’t feel like we were running our stuff and spreading the floor like we should. We did miss some easy shots and that made a difference.”
Walker, which shot 47% for the game, stopped a five-minute drought without a point when Montgomery scored in transition and two minutes later tied the game at 40-all with a free throw.
“I knew this would be some good competition for us,” Schiro said. “That’s what we need to get better. To play the best teams to get better.”
