By: RHETT MANUEL
Sports Editor
VILLE PLATTE — Guard play continues to drive the Ville Platte Bulldogs boys basketball program in the early-season run.
After winning its own tournament that it hosted last week, the Bulldogs made it 2-for-2 within city limits by bringing home the championship of Sacred Heart’s Turkey Tourney this past week.
Games played by Sacred Heart’s boys and girls basketball teams, as well as the Ville Platte girls will be in next Thursday’s newspaper.
Ville Platte ran the table over three days, including a nail-biter of a final against French Settlement to clinch the crown.
Ville Platte 58
Crowley 48
Junior guard Sage Papillion and sophomore forward Montavis Seraille dominated the flow of VPHS’s offense in their opening contest.
Papillion scored a team-high 20 points and Seraille added 16 in a game that saw no other Bulldog put up more than six points.
Seraille did the majority of his damage in the first quarter when he put up eight of his points, with Papillion knocking down two triples to put the Bulldogs up 19-14 after the opening frame.
Papillion was equally crucial coming down the stretch, putting up 12 points in the second half as Ville Platte worked to salt the game away.
Ville Platte 54
Elton 45
The Indians gave the Bulldogs all it could want in their Tuesday game, forcing Ville Platte to make a second half comeback to take home the win.
Elton, in fact, dominated the first half and led 31-20 heading into the locker room.
Much of their potency came from Jadon Ross, who had nine first half points to lead Elton.
Ville Platte turned it on after halftime, including a 20-point fourth quarter to finish off the comeback.
It was Latelldrick Prejean who gave the Bulldogs an unexpected boost in the final quarter, scoring all seven of his points in the final frame to push his team over the top.
Seraille led Ville Platte with 14 points and Jakahalen Slaughter added 11 points.
Ville Platte 57
French Settlement 55
It was a dominant third quarter that helped Ville Platte hold off French Settlement in the championship game.
The Bulldogs outscored French Settlement by an 18-6 margin in the third period.
It needed that boost after French Settlement took a 31-24 lead into the locker room.
Sage Papillion scored nine of his team-high 19 points in the third quarter alone.
Papillion paced a balanced Ville Platte offense that had four players score in double-figures.
Jamarre Byers added 14 points, Montavis Seraille had 11 points and Jakahalen Slaughter had 10 points.
French Settlement’s top scorer was dominant, pouring in a game-high 31 points for his team in the loss.
June 20, 2026
