Lake City bound

VILLE PLATTE -- In dramatic fashion, the Ville Platte Bulldogs secured a spot in the LHSAA Class 2A state semi-finals with a thrilling 85-79 double overtime win over the Lakeview Gators Friday night.
With the win, Ville Platte improved to 27-3 overall and will play in the Top 28 Marsh Madness Tournament that begins tomorrow in Lake Charles. As of press deadline, the date and time of the semi-final game was not announced.
After the game, Ville Platte head coach Tommy Jones was emotional in his assessment of the contest.
“I am so proud of our guys in the way they weathered the highs and the lows to pull off this win,” stated Jones. “This is a big statement game for our program. The players have worked so hard in the offseason to get to this point. They deserved to win this one. I just want to say that this win was for my grandfather (Curley Dossman), my biggest fan, who passed away just recently.”
Ville Platte looked as if it came to play in the opening minutes of the first quarter. Getting off to a super quick start, the Bulldogs jumped out to a 7-0 lead after only two minutes of play.
Lakeview fought off the lighting fast start of Ville Platte long enough to produce a 14-0 run over the next four minutes. The rest of the first quarter was pretty even, as the Gators held a 19-11 lead when the period came to a close.
Lakeview netted the first two points of the second quarter to widen its advantage. However, the Bulldogs were able to scrap their way back into the game after collecting the next seven points.
The Gators slowly eased away from Ville Platte taking a nine point lead, 27-18, with 1:14 to go in the period. Ville Platte managed to cut that lead down to six, 30-24, as time expired on the clock to end the first half.
The third quarter was basically a wash, as the two teams traded punches throughout the period. By the time the quarter ended, Lakeview held an eight point edge, 43-35.
The Gators stretched their lead to 12 points, hitting the first two baskets of the final period. Once again, the Bulldogs scratched their way back into the game, closing the gap to four, 51-47, with 4:03 to play.
Over the course of the last four minutes of the quarter, Ville Platte gutted its way back to within two points. With 18 seconds showing on the clock, Ernest Roberts hit a basket that tied the game up a 60-60. Neither team could score the rest of the period, sending the game into the first overtime.
Lakeview leaped out to a 64-60 lead in the first 1:30 of the extra frame. The Bulldogs ran off the next six points to take the lead back for the first time since the initial quarter.
The Bulldogs stretched the lead to 70-66 with 27 seconds left to go. Nevertheless, the Gators were not finished scoring, as they picked up the four points necessary, including a shot with one second on the clock, to tie the game up at 70-70, forcing a second overtime.
Feeling the crowd behind them, Ville Platte came out with a renewed since of purpose. The Bulldogs got out to a 78-72 lead in the first two minutes of the second overtime period.
Lakeview hit a basket with 1:36 to go to get within four points of Ville Platte. But, that would be the closest they would get down the stretch.
The Bulldogs sealed the game in the waning moments, collecting points from Byers, Tyler Jones and Terrian Roy. With eight seconds to go, the Gators knocked down a three-point basket to cut the Ville Platte lead down to 83-79, but the Bulldogs put the contest away when Byers hit two from the charity stripe with six seconds left in the game.
Tye’Wuan Byers led all Ville Platte scorers with 18 points. Jahmal Byers and Roy each had 17 points. Jones picked up 16 points and Ernest Roberts added 14 points.
“I told the guys at halftime that they were going to have to buckle up and leave everything out on the floor,” said Jones. “We went straight man-to-man and did what we needed to do defensively to give us a chance.”