LaGrange never trailed and staved off a pesky Sulphur squad as the Gators defeated the Tors 54-47 at home Monday night
The Gators (4-1) used an early advantage and a deep bench to outlast the Tors (2-2) in a contest that stayed within 10 points for most of the night.
“Hats off to Sulphur,” said LaGrange coach Nathaniel Perry. “We had to have a game plan to contain their playmakers. They kept fighting, and that’s how they were able to stay in the game. We tried to put them away, but we just couldn’t.”
LaGrange book ended the first quarter with hot spurts, scoring the first six points of the game within 30 seconds of tipoff and finishing the period with an 8-0 run in the final 32 seconds to take an 18-8 lead into second quarter, thanks in large part to a pair of 3-pointers by sophomore Joe Gray off the bench.
“That was really big,” Perry said of Gray’s production in the first quarter. “But we have to do as a young team is we have capitalize on those things. He did a good job by hitting those 3-pointers and then we got impatient and reach a lot.”
Sulphur had plenty of chances in the first quarter to close the gap at the free throw line, but made just four of 10 attempts at the stripe.
“Free throws is something we’ve struggled with early in the season so far,” said Sulphur head coach Skip Carlin. “We’ll go back and work on that, and we also have to work on staying mentally tough.”
The Tors quickly heated up in the second quarter, scoring 11 points in the first three minutes and getting to within five points of the Gators, who led 35-28 at halftime.
Due to 24 combined fouls in the first half between the two teams, both squads had to get creative with their rotations.
It seemed every time the Tors would get within reaching distance in the second half, the Gators had an answer usually in the form of Jamyric Harrison or J’son Brooks.
Brooks finished the game with 15 points followed closely by Harrison who tallied 14 points.
“J’son Brooks has to come in big for us,” Perry said. “He has to put us on his shoulders. He has some big pants to fill as our senior guy. He’s been a four-year starter, so we’re depending on him to do big things this year.
“Harrison is my point guard. I’m on him a lot, but he’s mentally tough and he’s prepared to get us through these tough, close games.”
Sulphur close the gap to within four points in the closing minutes of the game, but LaGrange was consistent at the line and kept the game out of reach until the final buzzer.
Jayson Carlin finished the game with 12 points for Sulphur, and Christian Trahan had 11 points.
“It’s going to come,” Skip Carlin said. “We have to practice. We haven’t practiced much. It’s going to come. We like our chances this year. We’re going to go back to work tomorrow and see what happens.”
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