In front of a packed gym last Friday night, the Destrehan Wildcats held on down the stretch for a 45-43 win over rival Hahnville.
With the victory, the Wildcats remained undefeated in district play while Hahnville falls to 0-2.
Destrehan led for a majority of the game, taking an early 7-2 first quarter lead and increasing their winning margin to 24-16 at the break. The Wildcats never trailed in the second half, and actually led by eight points twice before having to fend off a late rally by Hahnville.
The Tigers got within 44-43 with 22.6 seconds left in the game after a Jaylon Bryant layup. Hahnville fouled Destrehan’s Kevin Smith four seconds later, and the junior hit one of his two free throws to stretch the Wildcat lead to 45-43.
That gave Hahnville a chance to either tie or win on their next possession, but a jumper by Jerqwinick Sandolph bounced off the rim. Tiger senior Derek Howard tried to tip in the ball as time expired, but his shot just missed.
Smith scored 11 points to pace the Wildcats, while fellow junior B.J. Singleton scored nine. Howard led the Tigers with 13 points.
“I thought we played pretty good,” Destrehan head coach Todd Bourg said. “We missed 19 free throws, and that’s an area that needs improvement.”
Bourg said his team has been inconsistent all season long and that they need to do a better job stopping penetration.
“I still don’t feel like we are playing where we need to be,” Bourg said. “We’ll keep working and hopefully by postseason time we’ll get there.”
Still, Bourg is pleased with his squad’s 2-0 district start.
“Getting off to that kind of start is always good,” he said. “We still must come to play every night, because this district is kind of like the SEC.”
Destrehan will travel to East Ascension on Friday. The game is scheduled to tip off at 6 p.m. Hahnville will host St. Amant on Friday at 6 p.m.
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