Hamilton Christian will be looking to join the party, and Washington-Marion and St. Louis will be trying to earn repeat appearances at the Top 28 boys state basketball tournament next week when all three schools host quarterfinal games tonight.
St. Louis has reached the semifinals each of the past two years, while W-M advanced to the Class 4A final last year. The Saints will host St. Michael in a Division IV game at 7 p.m. while W-M will host Tioga in a Class 4A game at 6:30 p.m.
The Warriors have lost in the quarterfinal round each of the past three years, going on the road each time. This time the Warriors will host No. 6 Central Catholic-Morgan City (15-10) at 6 p.m. Central Catholic advanced with a 66-32 win over No. 11 St. John. Hamilton beat No. 14 Ascension Catholic 89-53 in the regional round.
“The kids always asked when we would get one at home, now they have it,” Dexter Washington said. “To say we had a layoff of eight or nine days (before playing Ascension Catholic) we played pretty well. Camren Hare (40 points) shot the ball well.”
The Warriors beat Central Catholic in the second round two years ago.
“They have three of those kids back,” Washington said. “They are solid. The big kid in the middle is 6-4, the point guard is quick and can shoot and they have a good rebounder. They are smart and disciplined. They don’t have a long bench, but the kids that play understand their system.
“We are going to have to rebound to win, that is one of their strengths. We have to keep the tempo up so we can utilize our depth. We need to score; we need kids besides Hare and (guard Kenan) Fontenot to step up.”
No. 4 St. Louis (19-5) will have to shake off the rust, having not played since Valentine’s Day. No. 5 St. Michael (25-6) played Monday, beating No. 12 Vandebilt Catholic 60-42.
“It came at a good time for us,” Saints head coach Rick Lebato said of the break. “We had some injuries and sickness. We were able to get back to the fundamentals and practice some stuff we had to rush through after getting a late start.”
Lebato said St. Michael has a balanced team.
“They are a veteran club, good outside play and guard leadership and two good post guys in the 6-5 range. It is going to be a tough matchup for us,” Lebato said.
“We have to play well,” he said. “If you play average now, you won’t advance. We were good down the stretch, our passing got better, eliminated turnovers. We had a young bunch besides (guard Bailey Hardy) but they got better as the year went along. We worked hard to get home-court advantage, we hope it does some good.”
No. 1 W-M (29-6) has cruised through the first two rounds of the playoffs, winning by a combined 52 points, and enters on a 14-game winning streak. No. 8 Tioga (26-6) beat No. 24 Assumption 65-62 in the regional round, led by Ty Sanders, who scored 29 points in the game.
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