Heartbreaking

VILLE PLATTE -- Despite a valiant second half effort, the Sacred Heart Trojans were ousted from the LHSAA Division IV playoffs with a 45-42 heartbreaking loss to the St. Frederick Warriors Friday night.
Sacred Heart finishes the season with an overall record of 9-19. This was the first time the Trojans hosted a first round playoff game in 22 years.
St. Frederick improves to 6-20 on the season. The Warriors advance on to the second round and will face Hamilton Christian in their next playoff game.
Although it was not the outcome that Sacred Heart head coach JP Boullion wanted, the first year Trojan mentor was pleased with the effort put forward by his club.
“It was a great night for Sacred Heart basketball as well as the Sacred Heart community,” stated Boullion. “Even though these players have never experienced a playoff atmosphere, they responded the way I knew they could. One thing for sure, the fans came out and gave us the boost we needed. We could feel them all night.”
If their were any nerves in the bodies of the Sacred Heart players, they did not show it early on in the opening quarter. The Trojans eased their way to a 3-2 lead after the first 1:20 of the contest.
St. Frederick settled in and knocked down the next two baskets to go up by three points. Following a basket under the goal by Sacred Heart’s Jack Lahaye, the Warriors ran off seven of the next nine points to take a 13-7 lead after one quarter of play.
The two teams exchanged baskets to begin the second quarter. St. Frederick got a second bucket with 6:54 left in the period to take a 17-9 lead.
After a one for two effort by the Trojans at the free throw line, Warrior guard Seth Brown drilled a three-point shot to give St. Frederick a 10 point lead, their biggest of the night.
Sacred Heart tried to fight their way back, but every basket made by the Trojans was matched by the Warriors. With 4:28 to go in the half, St. Frederick held a 26-14 lead.
The Trojans picked up the pace on offense long enough to score the next four points of the quarter and cut the deficit down to eight points. Sacred Heart had the opportunities late in the period to cut into the Warrior advantage, but missed shots at the charity stripe giving St. Frederick a 28-19 edge heading into the locker room.
“Coming into the game, we saw that they (St. Frederick) liked to play a sagging zone,” said Boullion. “We put in some things during the week off of our five man motion offense, but we just could not exploit their defense with it. My assistant coach, Daniel Scully, suggested that we try to get it down on the block more in the second half and we did. That helped open up our outside game and we were able to get some open looks.”
Not only did the Trojans get some open looks to start the second half, but they also began to hit on shots from beyond the arc. The beneficiary of those open looks, Wyatt Fontenot.
Fontenot found a rhythm from down town and hit two big three-pointers within the first 1:15 of the third period to cut the St. Frederick lead down to three, 28-25. An exchange of basket, including a three-pointer from the Warriors put the score at 31-27.
Feeling the momentum shifting in their direction, the Trojans found enough offense over the next minute of play to take over the lead, 32-31, with 4:46 left in the quarter. However, that lead would be short lived as St. Frederick scored five of the last eight points of the period to take a 37-34 lead.
Undaunted by the late Warrior run to close out the third quarter, Sacred Heart once again found their range from beyond the arc, as Jacques Leger blasted a three-point bucket to open the fourth period and tie the game up at 37-37. St. Frederick reeled off the next four points to regain some momentum.
But, just when the Warriors thought they may have a chance to slowly pull away, Sacred Heart’s Austin Darbonne knocked down another three-point basket and drew the foul to boot. Unfortunately, Darbonne missed the chance for the four-point play, keeping the Warriors on top by one point, 41-40, with 4:13 left in the contest.
That score stayed that way until the 2:09 mark, when St. Frederick’s Taylor Howard was fouled attempting a three-point