Wildcats rally by Minden, play St. Bernard today for Class 3A title

Published 12:00 am Sunday, March 19, 2000

MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / March 19, 2000

LAFAYETTE – St. James coach Lionel Ezidore has seen combat in a real war,having served in Vietnam. So when his team found itself in a battle againstMinden in the Class 3A semifinals Tuesday night in the Cajun Dome, Ezidore didn’t seem too worried.

And like the famous words of another war, his Wildcats refused to surrender, overcoming an eight-point deficit in the final three minutes for a 63-60 victory.

The victory was the first for St. James in four trips to the Top 28Tournament and sends the Wildcats (26-5) into the Class 3A championship game today against St. Bernard. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Like St.James, St. Bernard is making it’s first appearance in the finals afterupsetting Lake Charles-Boston, 67-60, Wednesday night.

St. James overcame a poor shooting night (32 percent from the field) byout-rebuilding Minden, 37-27, and committing just six turnovers while forcing 20. The Wildcats also made 14 of their 16 free throws.”The kids laugh at me a lot because I sit down and tell them war stories when I was in Vietnam,” Ezidore said. “I’ve been shot at and booby-trapped andeverything else. When you’ve been booby-trapped and shot at, you don’tworry in a basketball game.”Corey Webster struggled early from the field but came back in the fourth quarter to finish with 19 points to go along with five rebounds, three assists and four steals.

But it was far from just the Corey Webster show. Claudell Parker kept theWildcats in the game early, scoring 12 of his 19 points in the first half. Healso had seven rebounds and two steals. Justin Aubert had seven reboundsand 10 points, including a 3-pointer that keyed the Wildcats’ late comeback.

Joseph Christy grabbed seven rebounds while Stevenson Jones had six points and blocked two shots.

Reese Duty led all scorers with 24 points for Minden. Duty hit 3-of-7 frombehind the 3-point line and had six rebounds and two steals. The Crimson Tidestruggled from 3-point land in the second half, hitting just 1-of-7 after going 3-for-8 in the first half.

Trey Smith added nine points while Lavonte’ Price and Jeremy Reamer had eight points apiece for the Crimson Tide.

Minden took an eight-point lead with 4:10 left on a free throw by Duty. AfterAubert drove in for the Wildcats, Duty hit both ends of an one-and-one to make it 56-48 with 3:43 left.

“We got frustrated and we missed some long 3-pointers,” Webster said. “Wecalled a timeout and settled down. We traded shots for a while then came upwith a couple of big steals at the end.” Aubert cut the deficit to six by taking a pass from Webster inside. Websterthen took a steal in, making it 56-52 at the 2:39 mark. After a Mindentimeout and a free throw by Price, Aubert buried a 3-pointer from the left side to bring the Wildcats to within 57-55 with 2:03 left. Aubert and Smiththen traded free throws to keep it at 60-57 with 1:13 remaining.

Webster followed by driving in and hitting a jumper from 14 feet out.

Webster then stripped Duty of the ball under the goal on the inbound and laid it up, giving the Wildcats their first lead of the second half, 61-60, with 30 seconds left. Parker was fouled by Price while grabbing a rebound on theother end, hitting both foul shots with nine seconds left.

“I told them that you never, never give up,” Ezidore said of what he told his team during a timeout with 5:25 left and the Wildcats down seven. “We’re atthe big dance now so let’s go out there and give it everything we’ve got.”Minden had time for one final shot after calling a timeout with three seconds left. Duty took the ball in the right corner but had his shot hit off the backof the rim with Christy grabbing the rebound as the horn sounded.

“We made some costly turnovers in a row and they hit some big shots,” Minden coach Alan Shaw said. “That was the turning point of the game.Everybody said it was the steal and layup to put them up by one, but it was actually before that that the game turned. When we allowed them to make arun when we had a chance to put them away.

“They hit some big shots and made their free throws. Every time theyneeded the big shot, they hit it.”Minden opened the second half on a 7-2 run after the game was tied at 26 at the half. A 3-pointer from the left wing and a drive by Duty gave the CrimsonTide a 33-28 lead.

St. James pulled even at 37 on Parker’s 3-pointer from the left corner with3:34 left in the third quarter. But Duty drove in and Smith scored on areverse layup to give Minden a 43-39 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Two free throws by Price made it a six-point game with 7:07 left. Dillonanswered with a 20-footer from the right wing but Minden came back with a layups by Price and Duty to take a 51-44 lead with 5:41 left. Webster cutthe deficit to five by taking a steal in but Cedric West put back a shot to give the Crimson Tide a 53-46 lead at the 4:54 mark.

St. James led for most of the first quarter after Webster converted athree-point play to give the Wildcats a 7-4 lead with 4:15 left. Henry Parkerput back a miss by Henry Washington to increase the advantage to 13-7 at the end of the quarter.

Minden tied the game at 18 on two free throws by Duty with 4:17 left in the half. Jones followed by driving the lane and Parker hit two free throws toregain the lead for St. James at 23-18 with 2:50 left. A 3-pointer by Parkerfrom the right wing made it 26-21 before Minden tied the game at the half behind a 20-footer by Antonio Coleman.

“We’ll always look back at how close we came,” Shaw said. “Everybody willremember a three-point loss in the semifinals but there were 35 other times this year we walked off the court as victors.

“These kids have a lot of heart, a lot of determination and I think they played as hard as I’ve asked them to. I’m as proud of them as if we had walked offwith the big trophy. I’m sure they’re disappointed but we can walk out ofhere with a great sense of pride.”

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