The Barbe girls will look to continue their dominance of the District 3-5A race, while the Hamilton boys will be looking to pick up where they left off last year as the District 4-1A race gets underway tonight.
The Bucs (17-3, 1-0) will host Sulphur (15-4, 1-1) looking to remain atop the 3-5A standings with Sam Houston, who will host Lafayette. The Tors lone district loss came to the Broncos, who are 18-2 overall and 2-0 in district play.
Barbe went 2-2 at the Sandra Meadows Classic tournament in Duncanville, Texas, last week while Sulphur went 2-1 at the Denham Springs tournament.
Barbe swept the Tors last season en route to an undefeated district title, the first in the program’s history. The Bucs have won 14 straight district games.
The Hamilton boys have been even more dominant, going 14-0 in district play in each of the past two seasons. The Warriors are 5-11 against a difficult schedule. Head coach Dexter Washington said it took a while for his team to raise its intensity level.
“This team is kind of resilient, they have a positive attitude, they have finally learned how to compete and give an effort,” Washington said. “With the schedule we play, it took them a while to learn that no one is going to roll over just because we are Hamilton Christian.”
Washington said the early losses will benefit the team over the long run.
“The level of (non-district) competition we face, we play teams filled with athletes, the game is really fast,” he said. “When we get back to district play, we don’t see the same type of athletes. The game slows down some. We see just as good basketball players, but not the same kind of athletes so it slows down for us a little bit.”
The Warriors pack plenty of scoring punch led by guards Kenan Fontenot and Camren Hare, but Washington’s focus is on the other end of the floor.
“It goes back to defense, we have not been scoring a lot,” he said. “When we are scoring well, we are capable of beating anybody. The last 4-5 games, we have had to defend athletes and it has taken away from our offense. We can go a little deeper in district than most people at certain positions. If you are going to win championships, you have to stop people from scoring.”
Washington expects several contenders for the title.
“Lake Charles College Prep has a group of athletes with Coach (Mack) Guillory, don’t let the record fool you,” he said.
“Grand Lake is very young but Coach Caldwell has a system they run very successfully. You can never sleep on Elton and someone told me that Merryville is very improved. You can’t sleep in district. It is rivalry time. It brings out the best in people. College Prep is going to be a rival, they are local, it seems like Lake Charles kids play harder against other Lake Charles schools. Elton has been a traditional powerhouse rival for us. They get up for Hamilton Christian.”
Hamilton hosts Oberlin to open district play tonight. Elton is at Lake Charles College Prep, Merryville visits South Cameron and East Beauregard is at Grand Lake in other 4-1A games.
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