BASKETBALL | Winnfield edges French Settlement in semifinals

“We just didn’t make the plays that we needed down the stretch to put us over the top,” Bourgeois said after the Lions finished the season at 29-5.

Winnfield will face No. 1 Port Allen, which defeated No. 4 Patterson 77-75 in triple overtime, in the championship game at 4 p.m. Saturday. It’s the first trip to the finals for Winnfield.

Winnfield led 51-42 on Keithan Hamilton’s putback, but the Lions whittled the lead with Maxwell Allison doing most of the damage, scoring eight points during a 10-4 run.

Allison’s free throws with 51.2 seconds left cut the advantage to 55-52.

“Normally at the end of the game, I’m looking to try to get to the free-throw line because I have confidence,” Allison said after finishing with 20 points, including an 8-for-10 effort from the line. “I’ve shot enough free throws to know that I’m going to make it. I was feeling good about it.”

The Lions got a turnover, but Winnfield’s De’Cavian Duncan came up with a steal and was fouled by French Settlement’s Draven Smith, who fouled out on the play with 29.1 seconds left. Teammate Joel LeBourgeois also fouled out with 1:20 remaining.

Duncan missed both free throws, and Allison came down with the rebound. He missed a jumper, and the ball went out of bounds to the Lions with 11.9 seconds left.

Boston Balfantz pulled down another rebound, but as the Lions worked the ball around, Jackson got a steal and layup to ice the game.

“We were down three, it’s a play we always run,” Allison said of the play Jackson got the steal on. “It’s the ‘old reliable’ basically. It ninety percent works. We got to it. We know they put a lot of pressure, so I told Talan (Bantaa) just to pass it straight in because normally we go guard to guard. We were just going to pass it straight in, so we did. Unfortunately, Draven was out of the game. We passed it up to the top. It was a loose ball from there, and they score a layup.”

Balfantz missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer to end the game.

The finish came after the Tigers led 38-34 at the end of the third quarter and slowly stretched the lead, working the boards and taking advantage of Lion turnovers.

Jackson’s three-point play after a turnover put the Tigers up 47-38 with 4:14 to play. Winnfield led by nine three times, and each time, the Lions got within seven before Allison’s burst.

Jackson led Winnfield with 20 points, while Roberson and Duncan each had 10.

The Lions led 24-22 at halftime, and Smith’s inside basket put FSHS ahead 26-24 early in the third quarter.

Smith finished with 20 points and eight rebounds, going 8-for-22 from the field, 0-for-3 from 3-point range and 4-for-5 from the line.

“My shot really wasn’t falling today,” Smith said. “Definitely playing on these college courts is definitely a game-changer. You’re always used to the high school courts. You’re trying to get the shot to fall, but it wouldn’t, so we’ve just got to keep attacking.”

FSHS was 19-for-51 from the field, 14-for-19 from the line and 0-for-11 from 3-point range. Winnfield also went 19-for-51 from the field, 17-for-27 from the line and 2-for-13 from 3-point range.

Jackson’s steal and basket tied the game at 26-26, and there were five lead changes and two ties during the quarter, with the Tigers leading by as many as three and the Lions leading by one.

Winnfield spread the floor with about 1:35 to play and held the ball, with Gerald Roberson hitting a 3-pointer to put the Tigers up 38-34 going into the fourth quarter.

“They came out with a lot more intensity in that second half from the start,” Bourgeois said. “They went on a little run there, but I thought we answered it pretty good trying it back up.”

The Lions led 6-4 at the end of the first quarter after going 3-for-12 from the field, while Winnfield went 2-for-15.

“Our game plan was to try to make them take jump shots and kind of keep them out of the paint,” Bourgeois said. “On the flip side, we wanted to do the reverse. We’re trying to get to get to the rim, trying to not settle in the first quarter. Try to get to the basket. Get some free throws, get our legs under us, see the ball go through the net a few times. I thought our defense was really good. We got what we wanted. We got the looks we wanted. The guys who we wanted to shoot were taking jump shots. We were getting rebounds like we needed to do, but they did a great defense on defense as well. In that first quarter, if we could have done things a little bit better and executed a little bit more, maybe instead of being up 6-4, we could have been up 10-12 to 4 and have a little more momentum going into the second quarter.”

Winnfield led 7-6 on Javen Jackson’s three-point play to open the scoring in the second quarter. From there, there were six lead changes and four ties before Bantaa’s basket put the Lions ahead 24-22 at halftime.

“Normally we like to get up and down, but they did a really good job on makes or misses they got and pressured us with a lot of really good defense,” Bourgeois said. “They slowed our pace down that we normally like to play with. They did a really good job of slowing us down and not letting us get out and run – even misses – every time we’d get a rebound, they had two guys trapping the ball, slowing us down. That’s probably the best full-court defense we’ve seen this year …”

Bourgeois reflected on the Lions’ season.

“I couldn’t be more proud of this team,” he said. “Our goal at the beginning of the year was to make it to state – win 25 games, make it to state, win a parish championship. We achieved most of our goals. The boys basketball team at French Settlement hasn’t been to state since 1966, so it’s something these guys will remember for the rest of their lives. I’m proud that I can just be their coach and guide them along the journey to get here. One day whenever they’re my age and older, they can tell the stories that ‘We did that. We made it state,’ and re-live the memories with their friends … I’m just super proud of these guys. Nothing negative. It was a great season.”