Hahnville’s basketball season came to an end against Live Oak on Friday, as the host Eagles charged out to an early lead and emerged a 69-45 winner over the Tigers in the opening round of the Division I non-select playoffs.
A slow start hindered the 18th seeded Tigers, who Live Oak held to two points until the 2:40 mark of the first quarter.
Live Oak’s Clayten Ray hit a 3 early in the first quarter to give his team a 9-2 lead, and that put Hahnville an early hole. Hayden Ray’s layup made it 11-2. Hahnville halted the run on Jordan Moore’s driving dunk, cutting the lead to 7.
But Live Oak (20-10) ended the first quarter with another Clayten Ray 3, this one as time expired to push the Eagles to a 12-point lead, 18-6. Marcel Foster made that a 14-point lead early in the second on a pull-up jumper. Live Oak mostly stayed at that range through the end of the first half, taking a 33-18 lead into the break.
That largely ended up being the tale of the night through three quarters. The lead would not ebb or flow much from that 13 to 15-point range – Hahnville (18-14) prevented Live Oak from running away with things, but the Tigers could not make a sustained run.
In the fourth quarter, however, the Eagles landed the knockout punch. Traven Barnes’ basket early in the quarter pushed Live Oak to its largest lead of 17. A steal and Jordan Magee bucket in transition mush it to a 56-38 lead. Back-to-back baskets, first by Hayden Ray inside, then a Nate Casher IV 3, pushed the lead to 23 with just over 3 minutes left.
Moore led Hahnville with 16 points, the final scoring total of what was dominant season for the senior and leading Tigers’ scorer on the season.
Hayden Ray’s 17 and Clayten Ray’s 16-point efforts led Live Oak.
