Rams strong down the stretch against Coushatta, 84-71

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, March 22, 2000

MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / March 22, 2000

LAFAYETTE – Early this season, West St. John head coach Antoine Edwardsand athletic director Laury Dupont sat down after game to discuss the Rams’ basketball team. The two talked about how anyone of the players onthat team could step up and Edwards knew that if they came together, they would be hard to beat.

That philosophy came true Friday night as West St. John outscoredCoushatta 18-5 over the final two minutes, capturing the school’s first basketball title with an 84-71 victory in the Class 2A championship game in the Cajun Dome.

“We’ve been close to getting here for a long time and we finally got here and a good thing happen tonight, we won,” Edwards said. “Dupont and I satdown after a game and he expressed to me, and I already knew, that the guys I had on the starting five, on any given night, any one of them could step up and take control. We look at not being selfish and look forward towinning. That’s all we wanted, to win and not be selfish. I think ourphilosophy still stands that you get five guys playing together, you won’t be beat.”The victory captured a season that saw the Rams go 27-4, capture the District 9-2A title and advance to the Top 28 tournament for the first time in West St. John history. It also capped the careers of six seniorswho will go down as one of the most successful classes in school history.

Over the past three years, they have won a Class 2A title in football and a national title as Pre-Prep all-stars.

“We got an invitation to the dance and we danced a lot,” Jeremy Lumar, one of the seniors who played on that national championship team and the Class 2A Tournament MVP Friday night, said.

Lumar scored a game-high 28 points and added nine rebounds. Brian Lumarand Donriel Louis had 14 points apiece while Marlon Jackson had 13 and Dwayne Bastain had 11. Jackson also had a game-high 10 rebounds and sixassists and contributed four steals.

Charski McDonald led Coushatta (26-12) with 19 points and had seven rebounds. Anthony Smith had 17 points while Derrick Newton had 11 pointsand nine rebounds.

Coushatta tied the game for just the second time on a reverse layup by Delvin Lewis with 2:10 left. After a timeout by West St. John, Louis wasfouled by Smith and made two free throws to give the Rams a 68-66 lead with 2:05 remaining. The foul was Smith’s fifth and Coushatta coach KeithJohnson said his absence changed the momentum of the game.

“Momentum was going our way,” Johnson said. “When he went out, I thinkthe other guys hung their heads down a little bit. For the first time in along time, I saw fright in their eyes.”Brian Lumar hit four free throws over the next two possessions to increase the lead to six. Jackson then grabbed a steal, found Louis whotossed ahead to Brian Lumar, giving the Rams a 74-66 lead with 1:24 left.

Coushatta turned the ball over on four straight possessions before getting back on the scoreboard on a free throw by McDonald. But Jackson answeredby putting back a miss by Louis to increase the lead to nine. Louis closedout the scoring with a dunk at the buzzer as his teammates swarmed the court.

“We got together and were more focused,” Edwards said of the difference of this season. “We got together more as a team and we fixed some thingsthat were kind of hurting us. Without a doubt, the teams that we playedthroughout the playoffs, we’ve been getting hurt at the free throw line but tonight we stepped it up. Definitely, the experience stepped up in the end.”West St. John blistered the nets in the first half, hitting 58.6 percent ofits shots. But Coushatta rallied as the second half opened, beginning thethird quarter on a 9-2 run. A jumper by Smith bounced in to pull theChoctaws to within one. Coushatta then took its only lead of the game at44-43 on two free throws by McDonald with 5:08 left in the third quarter.

West St. John regained the lead two possessions later on a tap in byJeremy Lumar. Following a drive by Lumar, Amone Lumar took a pass fromJackson inside for a layup and was fouled. Lumar missed the free throwbut Jackson was there to put it back, giving the Rams a 51-44 lead with 3:04 left.

Coushatta pulled to within three on a drive by Smith but Brian Lumar answered with a 3-pointer from the left wing as the Rams took a 56-48 lead into the fourth quarter.

Jeremy Lumar opened the scoring in the final quarter with a jumper from the left side. Coushatta again rallied, pulling to within 60-59 on Smith’sjumper in the lane with 4:13 left in the game. Louis answered with a drivein and two free throws to increase the lead back to five but Smith came back with a 3-pointer from the left wing. After Bastain found JeremyLumar driving in, Newton scored on a put back to make it 66-64 with 2:15 left.

West St. John scored the first seven points of the game behind a 3-pointerby Jeremy Lumar and a drive by Brian Lumar off steal. Jackson then took asteal by Jeremy Lumar in, giving the Rams a 7-0 lead and forcing the Choctaws to call timeout with 6:29 left in the first quarter.

Jeremy Lumar increased the lead to 10-2 on a 3-pointer from the left wing at the 5:46 mark. Coushatta pulled to within four on a three-pointplay by Chris Miles but Bastain came right back by taking a pass from Brian Lumar inside. Bastain scored on a three-point play then took a passfrom Jackson in for a dunk, giving the Rams a 24-11 lead.

Jeremy Lumar buried another 3-pointer on the Rams’ first possession of the second quarter to increase the lead to 27-14. Lumar hit all four of his3-point attempts in the half on his way to 16 points at the break.

“It gave me and the team confidence,” Lumar said of his early 3-pointers.

“If I made those baskets, it made the other players want to make baskets too. Everybody stuck together and played hard.”Coushatta chipped into the West St. John lead, pulling to within 33-26 ona drive by McDonald with 4:18 remaining. West St. John came back with ajumper by Jackson to go up by 11 but a jumper by Jumarcus Thomas cut the deficit to 41-35 at the break.

“We made a good run at the end of the third quarter but I think we used up a lot of energy coming back,” Johnson said. “Unlike the other night(against Springfield) when we went into a trap and got turnovers, tonight we went to a trap and got turnovers but couldn’t capitalize on them. Wemade too many crucial mistakes at crucial times. We played a teamtonight that matched us in athletic ability and we couldn’t use that to our advantage tonight.

“But I wouldn’t trade these guys for anyone in the world. We had a heck ofa run. We were the defending state champions and made it all the wayback. There are about 30 other coaches who would love to be in my spottonight.”

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