Destrehan hits from deep, beats Hahnville

Though Hahnville is known for taking and making plenty of threes, on Tuesday night, Destrehan used that weapon to fell their archrival as the Wildcats were red hot from the outside — and the Tigers just as cold. Lionel Maxon scored 31 points while Devin Edwards added 19 to lead Destrehan to a decisive 72-48 victory over Hahnville at R.K. Smith Middle School gymnasium.

Edwards and Maxon combined to hit 10 3-pointers — five each — on a night Destrehan hit 13 total. Hahnville, conversely, made four from beyond the arc, the Wildcats finding an answer for the Tigers’ strategy of spreading the floor with guards and shooters.

“We shot the ball pretty well,” said Destrehan coach Todd Bourg. “We know they like to shoot a lot of threes, (so) we played more man tonight than zone. We started one big instead of two and played four guards most of the night for defensive purposes. Even when we went three guards and two bigs, our bigs got out and guarded pretty well.”

Hahnville had won the past four matchups between the teams.

“Sometimes we swap years,” Bourg said. “They had beat us the last four times. I think before that we won 4 or 5.

“I’m just happy to get a win. I was tired of losing to them dudes,” he added with a laugh.

Maxon continued his strong play as Destrehan’s leading scorer. Bourg said Edwards’ emergence was as big on Tuesday.

“I’ve told him all year, you’re a shooter, you’ve gotta shoot the ball,” Bourg said. “When he makes (outside) shots, it opens things up inside for our bigs.”

Destrehan led throughout the night, but began to pull away in the third quarter.

With Destrehan leading 40-32, Maxon canned a pair of threes to make it 46-32, then Edwards added another to push the lead to 49-32.

Hahnville answered briefly with a 3 from Ian Arnold, but Edwards hit another long ball just before time expired in the third quarter to put Destrehan ahead by 17.

“I thought we penetrated well, made the kicks at right time and knocked down the shots,” Bourg said.

The Tigers couldn’t get back on track from there.

Bourg hopes the game serves as a launching point for his 7-10 Wildcats, who he believes is better than the record shows after losing several close games earlier this season.

“I think the biggest key is we stopped turning the ball over so much,” Bourg said. “When we stopped doing that, we started winning games.”

Raylon Hardy led Hahnville with 12. Kendall Pierre scored 10 and Larry Dixon added 7.

L’Kyron Walker scored 11 for Destrehan.

 

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