The St. Thomas More Cougars had a lot to play for on Saturday afternoon in Lake Charles when they faced off with De La Salle for the Division II State title. Just about an hour before tipoff a funeral for Rev. Joe Breaux was occurring in Lafayette. Breaux, a longtime pastor for the school, was a big fan of the basketball program and the Cougars played with a ton of heart on the way to a 77-72 win over De La Salle to repeat as Division II State champions.
How It Happened:
De La Salle established control of the ballgame early and thanks to a big second quarter headed into the locker room with a fairly comfortable 27-14 lead. The Cougars started to fight back with a pair of threes late in the third quarter to get the lead down to single digits. However, Jalen Ned was keeping the Cavaliers out in front with some solid shooting from three-point range.
St. Thomas More just wouldn’t go away though late, thanks to Shelvin getting a layup with five seconds left to force overtime after a three from John Kelly was off as time expired. STM got out in front late in the first overtime period, but key turnovers late wound up forcing double overtime. It was hotly contested in the second overtime period and Shelvin was able to help the Cougars win their second straight title with a clutch layup.
Big Number: 13
What makes the Cougars win more impressive is the fact that they were down by 13 points at halftime. There was a lot of grit being shown by St. Thomas More on Saturday afternoon considering everything that they had gone through in the last few days.
Player of the Game: Jaden Shelvin
Shelvin was all over the place on Saturday afternoon, earning Most Outstanding Player of the state title game in the process.
-Clint Domingue