Madison Prep Academy coach Jeff Jones doesn’t believe his team will give a repeat of its 31% shooting performance in Thursday’s state semifinal victory.
One thing he is counting on, though, is his team’s season-long defensive prowess showing up in the season’s biggest game.
“This is one best defensive statistical teams I’ve had in my tenure here,” said Jones, whose team allows 41 points a game. “I’m excited about that. Hopefully on Saturday the offense comes.”
No. 1 Madison Prep (32-3) faces No. 6 Carver (23-10) at 2 p.m. Saturday in the Division II select state championship. The Chargers, which won the last two Class 3A nonselect titles, look to add the school’s ninth state title and fifth in a different division or classification in the LHSAA boys state tournament at Burton Coliseum in Lake Charles.
Top-seeded Port Allen (28-4) knows something about stringing together state championships. The Pelicans won the last three Class 2A state nonselect crowns and meet No. 3 Winnfield (26-4) at 4 p.m. Saturday in the Division III state nonselect title game.
“Going into the preseason we know what the expectation is,” Port Allen coach Dimario Jackson said. “The standard is set and that’s to be the last team standing. The guys have had that mindset game after game with that goal in mind.”
Madison Prep and Port Allen both had to navigate tricky semifinal hurdles.
The Chargers led 14-10 at halftime and wound up missing all 12 of their 3-point attempts, but relied Jayce Depron (19 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists), Jamari Thigpen (10 rebounds, 6 points) and Dylan Dominique (7 points) to outscore Archbishop Shaw 32-18 in the second half.
“I’m excited for the opportunity and so are the kids,” Jones said. “When you start off in the summer, running and doing all the crazy stuff that you do, you just want to have a chance to play in the last game. We have the chance to do that again.”
Port Allen earned the right to face Winnfield, which has won 21 straight, by persevering in a three-overtime thriller against Patterson, 77-75. Senior guards Elliott McQuillan scored a game-high 35 points with 13 rebounds and Isaiah Howard had 32 points and 13 rebounds.
Leave a Reply