Destrehan needs strong finish to earn spot in postseason

Freddie Brown
Destrehan's Freddie Brown

With Destrehan on the edge of the postseason, coach Todd Bourg believes that closing the season out with a pair of victories should punch the Wildcats’ ticket to the playoffs.

The Wildcats are set to travel to H.L. Bourgeois Friday night and will close the season at home a week later on Feb. 16 against Terrebonne. But if Destrehan is to make their move, Bourg said it will have to clean up some issues that have helped to cause a stretch of four losses in five games.

“We have to get better on the defensive side,” Bourg said. “We’re giving up too many layups. We’re working hard and it has been getting better, but we’re not finishing games like we need to.”

Finishing strong proved an issue in each of the team’s last two games, a 53-47 loss at home against Thibodaux and then a 76-67 loss at East St. John.

“We led much of the way against East St. John, but we couldn’t sustain it,” Bourg said. “We fell behind by two with about 30 seconds left and we had to start fouling. We’ve made too many turnovers and we’ve allowed too many easy buckets. We have to stop penetration.”

That will be especially true Friday night, as the Wildcats face Bourgeois. Braves guard Anthony Rainey scored 51 points in the first meeting between the teams, much of that coming as he wreaked havoc in the paint.

“29 of his points came as result of him getting to the basket,” Bourg said. “We’ve gotta stop the ball. He’s a talented kid who doesn’t need a lot of space to get there.”

Destrehan has been getting strong production from some younger players. Freshman Tyler Martin earned a start against East St. John and finished with 19 points.

“Guys coming off the bench who hadn’t played as much, we’ll need them to keep stepping up,” Bourg said. “Martin did a good job for us.”

 

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