The Ville Platte High Bulldogs improved their overall record to 15-1 and captured a huge tournament title in the process, when they defeated the Lafayette Christian Knights 59-44 in the championship game of the Northwest Holiday Tournament this past Saturday night.
The Bulldogs are scheduled to travel to Beau Chene Friday night to take on the Gators in a non-district contest.
In the championship contest, Ville Platte got off to a very slow start offensively. In an uncharacteristic fashion, the Bulldogs were unable to get into double digits, as they trailed Lafayette Christian 12-9 after one quarter of play.
However, Ville Platte jump started their offense in the second quarter behind the shooting of Terrian Roy. The junior guard scored 10 of his game high 17 points in the period to allow the Bulldogs to outscore the Knights 19-7 and take a 28-19 lead heading into the locker room.
The third quarter was basically a wash for both teams with Ville Platte putting up 15 points and Lafayette Christian matching that with 14 points of their own. In the quarter, it was the outside shooting of the Bulldogs that kept them in the hunt, as Tyler Jones, Ernest Roberts and Roy all sank shots from beyond the arc.
In the final period of the game, Ville Platte stayed ahead of Lafayette Christian behind Jones’ seven points. In the end, the Bulldog defense held tight and staved off the Knights for the win.
In the semi-final game on Friday, Ville Platte produced 34 points over the first two quarters to take down the Opelousas Tigers 60-51 and advance to the finals.
The opening quarter saw the Bulldogs jump out to a six point advantage, 13-7, over the Tigers. In that quarter, Ville Platte spread the ball around on the offense, with four players getting into the scoring column.
The Bulldogs exploded on the offensive side of the floor in the second quarter, outpacing the Tigers 21-14. Terrian Roy and Ernest Roberts each hit on a three-point basket to pace Ville Platte in the period.
It was all about the charity stripe in the third quarter for the Bulldogs. Ville Platte hit eight of ten from the charity stripe and picked up another basket to collect 10 points in the period. However, Opelousas was the better team in the quarter, scoring 14 points to make it a 44-35 game in favor of the Bulldogs.
An evenly matched fourth quarter allowed Ville Platte to maintain their lead and get off of the court with the win. Roberts led the Bulldogs with 14 points, while Tyler Jones and Jahmal Byers each chipped in 11 points.
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Also in Northwest Tournament action, the Ville Platte Lady Bulldogs were eliminated from play on Friday with a 50-28 loss to the Alexandria High Lady Trojans.
With the loss, the Lady Bulldogs drop to 5-9 on the year and are scheduled to travel to Beau Chene High School.
Despite the final score, Ville Platte stayed within striking distance of Alexandria in the first quarter. Behind the scoring of Kayden Coward and Alyssa Fontenot, the Lady Bulldogs only trailed 13-12 at the end of the period.
A low scoring second quarter for both teams, found Ville Platte pick up only five total points in the period. However, the Lady Trojans could only muster eight points and led 21-17 with the two teams heading into the locker room.
The last two quarters were not good for Ville Platte both offensively and defensively. In the third period, Alexandria outscored the Lady Bulldogs 14-6 to open up a 12 point advantage.
The final quarter was much of the same, as the Lady Trojans outpaced Ville Platte 15-5 to take the win. Trinity Leday and Coward each scored seven points to lead the Lady Bulldogs.
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In other parish action, the Pine Prairie Lady Panthers jumped out to a huge advantage after one quarter of play to take a 53-44 non-district win over the Opelousas Lady Tigers this past Friday night.
With the win, the Lady Panthers improve to 13-6 and have won 12 of their last 13 games. Pine Prairie was scheduled to play Church Point yesterday in a district contest on the road.
Pine Prairie began the game on fire, outscoring Opelousas 14-2 in the first quarter and 14-10 in the second quarter to take a 28-12 lead into the locker room.
The Lady Tigers made a run in the final two quarters, outpacing the Lady Panthers 32-25 in the second half.
Kameron Allen scored 21 points to lead the Lady Panthers offensively.