Friday will be a big night for St. Charles Parish’s boys basketball teams, as the postseason begins for both Destrehan and Hahnville.
No. 9 DHS (25-5) will host No. 24 St. Amant (18-12) at 7 p.m., while No. 19 Hahnville (19-13) will play on the road at No. 14 East Ascension (16-9) at 7 p.m. in the opening round of the Class 5A playoffs.
Destrehan did not qualify for the 2020-21 postseason, but came out on fire for head coach Troy Green’s second season with the program – an early season 12-game win streak put the Wildcats on the map as a top 10 team in 5A, and the Wildcats have remained consistent throughout the year – aside from a single case of back-to-back losses as the calendar flipped to the new year, Destrehan has answered every loss with a string of victories, and earned a share of the District 7-5A championship with a win over Thibodaux last week. DHS and East St. John shared the honor, with Destrehan earning the extra power for district champion point due to its higher ranking serving as tiebreaker.
This will be a significant matchup for the program: Destrehan’s last home playoff game came in 2011, in round two of the 5A playoffs. Destrehan fell to No. 2 Scotlandville to end that season, the No. 18 Wildcats besting No. 15 Barbe on the road a round prior, 53-39. That represents the last time DHS has won a playoff game.
DHS will end the first drought on Friday, and they hope to end the second as well – though the draw is not an easy one.
St. Amant has won 20 games or more in each of the previous six seasons – to do that this time, the 18-12 Gators will have to reach the state quarterfinals. The team has had up and down stretches of play this season, but this looks to be a particularly dangerous lower seed: St. Amant has played several of Destrehan’s district foes tough and notched wins over Hahnville and East St. John, each of which hold a win over the Wildcats.
“My first reaction (upon seeing the bracket) was that St. Amant has a pretty good team … that’s not a normal 24 seed right there” Green said. “They’ve already beat two teams in our district we’ve lost to. But it’s something you come to expect in 5A … the field is pretty tough. We need to be up for the challenge.”
The Gators are experienced, returning five players from last year’s rotation, including a quartet of seniors. It’s a drive-and-kick team that can spread the floor with several high-percentage 3-point shooters.
“They shoot it so well. They’re athletic, and they run a good system,” Green said. “They also play team ball. We’re going to have to guard them.”
St. Amant reached round two last season before falling to eventual state champion Natchitoches Central.
For Destrehan, Green said this week has been business as usual. This will be the first playoff game for this group of players, but several Wildcats are no stranger to big games thanks to their experience on the football field, among them Calvin Bullock and Daniel Blood, who Green noted have each been playing strong ball down the stretch.
“We said it in our first meeting as a team … talking about playoffs, playoffs, playoffs,” Green said. “All season, you’ve been building to this.”
Hahnville, meanwhile, is fresh off of back-to-back trips to the Class 5A state semifinals. That noted, however, the core of that team has graduated, with five seniors departing after last season. These Tigers have been learning on the fly, but began to play its best basketball late in the season – winning seven of nine games during one hot stretch and finished the season with back-to-back wins.
The Tigers have not faced first round foe East Ascension this season, but the teams are not unfamiliar: HHS defeated EA in round two last season, 82-53.
“We’ve been looking at the matchups for a while … we kind of knew we were lined up to draw EA,” said Hahnville head coach Yussef Jasmine. “But at the same time, yeah, I thought, ‘Wow, we played them last year in the playoffs and we’ve got them again here in round one.’ That’s always kind of tough, because we won that one, so you know they’ll be playing with a chip on their shoulder.”
Last year’s game notwithstanding, East Ascension has historically been a tough out in this round – a very tough out. The Spartans have reached the second round in each of the last six seasons. Hahnville, likewise, has its own streak, reaching round two for four seasons in a row.
Both teams have been streaky this season – for EA, the end of the season saw a downturn, but at the Spartans’ peak this season, it won 13 of 16 games. Jasmine said EA likes to press and speed up the game, while on offense the Spartans aggressively hit the offensive glass.
“If we can take care of the ball and keep them off the glass for second chances, I feel very confident in our ability to play defense in the halfcourt set,” Jasmine said.
Jasmine said Hahnville has been getting healthier as the playoffs approach, and he likes the way his team’s mentality has shifted over the season. This bunch is maturing, he said.
“I think we’ve been playing at a high level,” he said. “That’s a testament to our schedule, playing teams that will benefit us at this time of year … I think our guys have learned that, because of the success we’ve had the past few seasons, every time we play a game the opposition is shooting to play its best basketball. Now that they understand that, it’s very beneficial.”
Cameron Lumar has led the Tigers in scoring, while sophomore Ahmad Simmons has come on strong down the stretch. Jai Johnson has also been a steady producer.
Be the first to comment