Raining threes

BASILE -- The Basile Bearcats drained 10 three-point baskets, including four in the first quarter, to motor past the South Cameron Tarpons 75-45 in non-district action Thursday.
With the win, Basile evens their overall record to 1-1. The Bearcats are scheduled to make a road trip Tuesday to Lake Charles for a date with Hamilton Christian in a district contest.
Despite the lopsided score, the initial blow of the game did not come from Basile. With 1:14 seconds gone in the first quarter, South Cameron’s Twayne Smith knocked down a three-point basket from the right side of the floor to give the Tarpons the 3-0 lead.
After taking the first body shot, the Bearcats began pounding away at South Cameron with a tenacious full court press. The pressure forced the Tarpons into a ton of turnovers that led to a significant Basile run.
Over the next 4:16 the Bearcats ran roughshod over South Cameron, scoring the next 16 points of the quarter, which included three-point baskets from Kydin Thomas and Deonte Ranton.
The Tarpons slowed the bleeding down with another three-point basket at the 2:18 mark. However, the Basile got back-to-back three-pointers from Ranton and Jamal Ceasar in the final minutes of the quarter to take a 22-6 lead.
The flurry of points from the Bearcats did not end just because the quarter ended. Not by a long shot. Instead Basile opened the second quarter of play with a 12-0 run to increase their lead to 28 points.
That lead grew to 31 over the following two minutes of the period. By the time the two teams disappeared into the locker room for halftime, the Bearcats held a 44-14 advantage.
The third quarter of play started a little slow, with neither team getting much on the offensive side of the floor. Still, Basile was able to hold on to their margin by exchanging baskets with the Tarpons. Thomas’ three-point basket, his third on the night, put the Bearcats up by 32 points, 53-21, with 5:16 to go in the quarter.
A two-point basket and two free throws from Ceasar extended Basile’s lead to 57-32 over the ensuing 2:30. South Cameron showed some signs of life in the third quarter, picking up the next four points.
The two teams traded baskets in the final minute of the period, putting the Bearcats up 61-30 heading into the final quarter.
The fourth period had the Bearcats giving their bench players a ton of playing time. An 8-5 advantage over the first 3:30 of the quarter pushed the Basile lead to 34 points.
South Cameron began to assert themselves offensively over the next two and a half minutes, cutting the Bearcat led down to 26 points, 69-43. But, the Basile JV players were not going to let up, as Gavin Ardoin and Anthony Edmonds each popped the net with three-point shots to finish out the game.
Ceasar led all scorers with 22 points.