Less than a month after leaving Catholic High with a District 4-5A victory, Scotlandville coach Carlos Sample knew it wouldn’t be his final impression of the Bears.
Turns out, Sample was onto something.
The path for top-seeded Scotlandville (32-3) to a ninth state championship will have go through third-seeded Catholic (27-6) at 6 p.m. Saturday for the Division I select state championship in the LHSAA boys state tournament at Burton Coliseum in Lake Charles.
“I wasn’t surprised to see Catholic,” said Sample, whose team has won 25 of its last 26 games. “We have a tremendous amount of respect for them. You have to respect the opponent and you do that by playing your best game. It’s a challenge for both teams.”
Catholic, in search of its first state basketball crown, is making its third appearance in a title game and first since 1995 — the year current coach Derrick Jones was part of a Class 5A state runner-up team. The Bears, who have won eight of their last nine games, are accustomed to facing Scotlandville this year where they encountered 70-60 and 66-60 setbacks.
“Coach Sample is one of the best coaches in the state,” Jones said. “They’re disciplined and fundamentally sound. They don’t beat themselves. You have to beat Scotlandville. We have a pretty good feel of how we want to play them. We both know each other so well having played twice.”
Six-foot-11, 265-pound center Dorian Booker, a UNO signee, averages 21 points and 8 rebounds to lead Scotlandville. The Hornets also count on the contributions of senior and Southern football signee C’Zavian Teasett (17 points, 6 assists) and sophomore Jamal Drewery (12 points, 6 assists).
“They have the big in the middle which we can’t match up with,” Jones said. “We can’t really negate him and then they surround him with guys who can shoot the basketball and other guys know their roles. That’s how championship teams are built.”
Jones, who coached Port Allen to a pair of Class 2A nonselect titles in three years, has a team built on balance that’s led the 15-point average of sophomore Benjamin McCurry. He scored a game-high 24 points on the strength of five 3-pointers in Wednesday’s 68-59 semifinal win over No. 2 St. Thomas More and senior Dennis Hebert added 18.
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