CECILIA — Ashton Joseph had his moment.
In the waning moments of Cecilia’s home finale against St. Martinville, the Bulldogs had already wrapped up a convincing win over their parish rival. With the victory in hand, Cecilia boys basketball coach Alphonso Williams subbed in a player, which is not uncommon, but this time it was different. It was Joseph — a special needs senior who was getting the opportunity to play in his first varsity game.
The ball was inbounded and fellow senior Ellis Stewart dribbled the ball past the free-throw line before passing it to Joseph standing at midcourt. Cecilia’s No. 23 caught the pass, took one dribble, and heaved an off-balance shot. As the ball traveled through the air, the noise in the gym seemed to quiet as Bulldog fans held their collective breath.
The ball hit the backboard and splashed through the net.
The crowd erupted in joyous disbelief as fans stormed the court, players leaped in the air and Joseph made laps around the gym before he found his mother. They hugged as both cried tears of joy.
“Ellis kicks it to him and when he shoots I am following him,” Williams said. “I can see it going in and I’m like, ‘Oh my God, it’s about to erupt inside here’. And it goes in and when it goes in that’s when the magic happened. The basketball gods knew what time it was.”
“I was nervous,” Joseph said. “I was just scared. I was really nervous and then I shot the ball and I was ‘like wow.’ I finally made it. It shocked me so much. I really made it.”
It was a storybook moment but that bank shot tells only part of the story of the young man who took it, the coach who gave him the opportunity, and the bond between teammates and a young man, who wanted nothing more than to be treated like “one of the guys.”
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BULLDOG SPIRIT
Williams’ cinder-block office inside Cecilia’s gymnasium is like any other coach’s refuge.
There is a whiteboard that is marked up with plays and statistics. There are schedule posters, a rack of basketballs, a mini-fridge for drinks and snacks, and a clothes rack engulfed by jerseys. Yet, amongst all of the things one would expect to find in a coach’s office, there are a few standouts.
There is the District MVP trophy from his senior season at Cecilia, the Mr. Hustle Award from his time as a four-year letterman for the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns, his framed No. 21 Bulldogs jersey hanging on the wall, and a few Sonic the Hedgehog toys — Williams loves how the famed character “goes 1 to 100.”
All of these items spark enthusiastic conversations with the upbeat coach, but none bring him to life more than talking about the young man behind the viral moment.
“I can tell you this much,” Williams said. “He doesn’t miss a beat. He does things the right way and he always brings energy.”
The energy has always been there for the 18-year-old Joseph.
His mother recalls how much time her son spent dribbling the basketball as a child — something he never really stopped doing. Like so many other young kids who adore the game of basketball, he idolized LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, and Michael Jordan.
Joseph may have had the passion but he also faced challenges, as he was diagnosed with a learning disability and also having ADHD. This means Joseph is classified as a special needs student and takes SPED 1508 at Cecilia High.
Yet, that didn’t deter Williams from allowing Joseph to be part of the Bulldogs program.
He proved his worth first as a ball boy and then transitioned to serving as the team’s manager last season. Along the way, Joseph got the chance to earn some playing time late in JV and summer league games.
“Basketball is a tool,” said Williams, who scored more than 2,000 points as a player at Cecilia. “It is an extracurricular activity, but it also allows a kid to get in line. So what it did for him, in my opinion, it kind of encouraged him to want to do better on the campus as well, because we hold our kids to high expectations here.
Williams added, “Ashton never complained. He was just good with just being part of the team. He loved motivating and encouraging us. Carrying bags, balls, and water. Even though he had a jersey on, he would still do his responsibilities.”
“It means a lot to me,” said Joseph of Williams, making him part of the team. “He wants to show love to everybody. He gives you opportunities to do it. That is the type of man he is. He’s got love inside of him. He’s a good man.”
Joseph may not have been getting playing time but he had become part of the team and in many ways the heartbeat of the Bulldogs. There is no bigger cheerleader for the Bulldogs than the young man who wears No. 23.
“He brings a different kind of frequency,” Williams said. “Whether you like it or not, you are going to accept it. He is going to force it on you. He will tell them ‘I love you, brother. Keep working for me. Keep working.’ If those types of things don’t bring chills to your veins then what are we doing this for?”
“It means a lot to me and it means a lot to the whole team,” Stewart said. “All the guys can vouch for that. We could be down or having a bad game and he always lifts us. No matter what the score is. No matter if we are up or if we are down, he is always there. No matter if you try to avoid it or not. He is going to try to lift you no matter what. That is just the type of person he is. He is a loving and caring person.”
The love and passion for his teammates are reciprocated as his coach and his teammates make it a point to not treat Joseph with kid gloves. Instead, they treat him like he is any other member of the team.
“It makes us feel so good for him to be accepted,” Joseph’s mother, Cherry Williams, said. “I feel all the love and support they give my son. To see how emotional his teammates got when he made that shot was amazing.”
“We treat him like he is one of us because he is one of us,” Stewart said. “He lifts everybody on the team, and we lift him too. He is just the type of person you want to have on your team.”
“I’m just blessed that people gave me a chance to shine,” Joseph said. “I am just one of the guys. I am blessed.”
Making sure to have Joseph be part of the basketball family is not only about what the experience can do for him but also how it can encourage others to come after him at Cecilia.
“A special needs kid is an important kid,” said Williams, whose team faces Lakeshore in the first round of the LHSAA Division II (Non-Select) playoffs. “Because what it does for them is it encourages them to do more after the fact. For me, it was just not a situation to get Ashton flowing through Cecilia High basketball. It will also encourage him down the line if he wants to do something work-related, or if he wants to do something with school. This experience is going to give him some encouragement. Not only that, it will have other students feeling like they belong as well.”
A NIGHT TO REMEMBER
Joseph couldn’t wait for Senior Night to arrive.
Even though his coach didn’t tell him that he was going to get to play in the final regular-season game of his career, Joseph made it known to everyone and anyone that if his number were called he would be ready.
“He had senior night marked on his schedule,” Williams said. “So he was going around the campus, telling the teachers, telling the people around the campus and any administrator he could put his hands on, that he’s going to score when he gets in that game. Everybody kind of brushed him off, and was paying him no mind.”
“He was talking about that all day that day,” Stewart said. “He kept saying, if he gets his chance, that he swears to God that he’s gonna make it. I’m like, ‘Hey, you’re going to get your chance today.”
That opportunity presented itself late in the game when Joseph and his infectious energy could no longer be contained on the bench.
“To see him slide from the end of the bench to the middle of the bench, back to the end to the middle, then finally, somebody scooted over and gave him the front seat,” Williams said. “When they gave him the front seat, man, I could see him drooling on both sides of his mouth. He’s like, he’s like a puppy ready to go. He’s like, ‘Coach, man, like, I’m ready when you are ready, coach. I’m ready.'”
Williams added, “Then something just hit me in my gut and it told me that the time was right now.”
So Williams pulled Stewart aside to tell him what was going to happen but Joseph nearly threw a monkey wrench into the best-laid plans. The enthusiastic Bulldog tried to convince his teammate to let him bring the ball up the floor. Stewart quickly nixed that idea.
“He got in the game and then he came up on the side of me,” said Stewart, who was honored before the game for eclipsing the 1,000-point mark. “He wanted to take the ball up the court. I told him, ‘No, I said, look, go to half court, and when I pass it, just catch and shoot. You ain’t got to dribble or nothing.’ That’s exactly what he did. I passed it to him and sure enough, he banked his shot in.”
“He was like, ‘no, no, no, no,'” laughed Joseph. “He said he was just going to pass the ball to me. So I was like, ‘Yes sir, I got you.”
The pass was precise and the shot banked in. Williams took a timeout so the team could enjoy the celebration and everyone collected their breath.
“When he got in the game I was like ‘Oh, it’s Senior Night and he’s excited,'” Cherry said. “I think I was more shocked when he made that shot than he was. I was shocked like everybody else, but I mean, he enjoyed that moment and he loved it. It made his night.”
“I was amazed because all he ever wanted was to be out there,” Cherry said. “When I saw the smile on his face afterward it made me emotional, too. My baby has always loved his sports and he always wanted to play.”
So what was going through Joseph’s mind when he threw up the shot? His teammates of course.
“In my mind, I was thinking that I got to do good for my brothers,” Joseph said. “I can’t lose this game for my brothers. I just keep trying. It was my first time in a varsity game and I gotta show out.”
That wasn’t the only surprise of the evening.
For Senior Night honors, Joseph was supposed to be walked onto the court by one of the two men who have served as role models — his grandfather, Evans “Yogi” Williams Jr. The other positive role model is his late godfather, Murphy “Bolo” Cluse, who passed away in 2021. Joseph has a cross tattooed on his forearm honoring his godfather.
“It’s all about my grandfather and my godfather,” Joseph said. “I keep trying for them. I try my best for them. I love them to death.”
His beloved grandfather was unable to attend the game as he is battling Stage 4 Prostate Cancer. He was thinking of his grandfather when he hugged his mother and his grandmother Sandra Williams after the game.
“It made me and my mom emotional,” Cherry said. “When my dad saw it, he got so excited for him to have that moment.”
Even though his grandfather wasn’t inside the gym, he did get to watch it and then share that moment when his grandson came home.
“I was about to tell him what happened and he told me that he saw the shot,” Joseph said. “He told me, ‘I’m really proud of you man.’ He was crying. I told him that he didn’t have to cry. I did it for him.”
Sometimes a bank shot is just a bank shot, but this time it meant so much more.