Sophomore center Luke Olivard rose head and shoulders above the Scotlandville defense during his time on court, scoring 12 points and harassing Hornet shot attempts in the 56-30 Crusaders’ first round win on Feb. 27.
By Ron Brocato
As they enter the regional round of the Select Division I basketball playoffs, the Brother Martin Crusaders prepare for a 225-mile trip to the little unincorporated burg of Tioga to face the No. 7 seeded home standing Indians on Tuesday, March 3.
Tipoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
Fresh from a decisive 56-30 rout of No. 23 Scotlandville on Feb. 27, the Crusaders begin a run of road trips that will last through the State championship tournament in Lake Charles, which begins on March 9, should they continue to win the next two rounds against higher seeded opponents.
And although the Crusaders are the No. 10 seed in their division, Head Coach Wesley Laurendine said he is confident the team will continue to put forth the effort that got them past their first round opponent.
“We have a good chance of winning if we can box them out of defense,” he said of his opponent after watching film of the Indians’ game against Denham Springs, which was one of their seven defeats during the season. “We’ve beaten better teams than they are, before.”
Tioga is a small community in Rapides Parish just north of the Alexandria-Pineville community. The team gained the higher seed on its 27-7 record, and was scheduled to end the regular season with a game against No. 2 seed Alexandria Senior High, but the game was cancelled late in the season to avoid either team losing power points with a defeat.
Brother Martin’s rout of Scotlandville was the product of an offense that easily slipped past the Hornets’ flailing defense that the Crusaders had easily penetrated for several layups. Junior Raphael Bickham and sophomore Luke Olivard led the scoring with 14 and 12 points, respectively.
But just as effective was the defensive play of Noah McDaniel, whose pressure on the Hornet guards accounted for five steals early in the game as the Crusaders opened an 11-point lead, from which the visitors never recovered. They managed to score just 15 points in each half.
Tioga’s record reflects three winning streaks of four-to-five games sandwiched around defeats to highly-seeded teams with impressive records. The Indians lost to Calvary Baptist, the No. 1 seed in Select Division III with a 28-4 record, Peabody (27-2), the No. 2 seed in Select Division II, and Natchitoches Central (27-4), the Non-select Division I No. 3 seed.
Tioga was also beaten by Franklin Parish (21-7), Denham Springs (26-6), Class 2A Madison (25-3), and Parkway (14-14), which defeated Tioga by 10 points.
Junior point guard Raphael Bickham (4) was the leading Crusader scorer, tallying 14 points against Scotlandville in their first round playoff game at Conlin Gymnasium.
