Tourney time in Oakdale

By: TONY MARKS Editor OAKDALE – A combined eight three-pointers helped propel the Ville Platte High Bulldogs to a 68-49 win over the Tioga Indians in the opening game of the inaugural New Year’s Tip-Off Presented by RoyOMartin. Coach Launey Coward’s squad, with the win, improved to 12-6 on the season after dropping its last two contests against North Central and Opelousas in the Northwest Tournament. Tioga, on the other hand, dropped to 8-10 on the year. In the game Thursday night, Montay Serialle untied the game with the first Bulldog trey of the game to give his team a 5-2 lead at the 5:56 mark of the opening quarter. Before Tioga scored again, Ville Platte stretched the lead to 8-2 on a layup from Jamaree Byers and a free throw from Serialle. Byers led the team with 17 points. With 2:08 remaining in the first quarter, the Indians mounted a 7-0 run. But, the Bulldogs ended the period with a three-pointer from Sage Papillion to give them a 16-11 lead. The lead, in the second quarter, grew to 28-21 in part to a pair of baskets from beyond the arc credited to Latravian Thomas. Tioga opened the third quarter on a 7-2 run to make it a one-score game at 30-28, but Byers and Serialle answered with successive baskets to pad the lead. Tioga, though, rallied again and answered Ville Platte score for score to make it a 38-35 game in favor of the Bulldogs with 2:28 remaining in the period. The period ended with the team from Evangeline Parish getting back-to-back treys from Byers on its way to a 46-37 lead going into the final stanza of play. Over the first minute and 50 seconds of the fourth quarter, Tioga cut the game to two possessions at 50-44, but Ville Platte’s Troas Murry netted back-to-back baskets before Byers and Papillion each recorded another basket from three-point range to give the Bulldogs a 60-44 advantage with 3:42 on the clock. Ville Platte then played Welsh yesterday, January 7, in their second game of the tournament. Coverage of that game will be in the Thursday, January 12, edition of the Ville Platte Gazette.