Locally the hardwood battle between Weston and Quitman is always one of the most anticipated basketball games of the year. Any year. Every year! It is one of those true “blood” rivalries that goes back to before most in Jackson Parish were born. They have met in tournaments, district games and even in the playoffs. In some years they have played up to four times in one season.

A check of the records show that over the past decade Weston has won bragging rights 22 times out of the 30 games they played. Not this year. At least not after the first game of two district 2B contests that are scheduled to be played. Round one goes to Quitman and in a big way. Actually the 73-33 victory this past Friday is the largest margin of victory by either team over the past ten years. The victory is the 10th straight for Quitman who improved to 15-3 on the year and more importantly 2-0 in district play. Weston lost their fourth out of the last five to fall to 9-15 and into the district cellar at 0-2.

With the entire starting five of Joshua Smith, Ethan Everett, Cooper Williams, Blake Carter and John Pabaya all scoring points, Quitman raced out to a 16-3 first quarter advantage. Then Smith took over in the second to score 11 of his game high 23 points to help the Wolverines take a commanding 35-13 lead at the half. It didn’t get any better in the second half as the stunned Weston fans watched Quitman take the third and fourth periods by nine in each frame to account for the 40 point difference. Williams and Pabaya would also end with double figures in scoring with 14 and ten. Carter scored seven and both Everett and L.D. Manning added six Ty Simonelli had four and Shane Rowe three to round out the scoring for the Wolverines.

Weston was limited to just ten field goals in the contest with Davis Tolar making four of those, including a pair of three pointers for his team high ten points. Jace Holt finished with eight, Braden Theriot 4 and Cooper Harvey three. Eli and Riley McBride had one and two points respectively with Kaden Shirley and C.J. Steward adding two points each. 

Quitman (15-3, 2-0)	16	19	20	18	73
Weston (9-15, 0-2)	3	10	11	9	33

QHS scoring: Smith 25, Williams 14, Pabaya 10, Carter 7, Everett 6, Manning 6, Simonelli 4, Rowe 3
WHS scoring: Tolar 10, Holt 8, Theriot 4, Harvey 3, Steward 2, Shirley 2, R. McBride 2, E. McBride 1

Wolverines skunk Choudrant in 2nd quarter to win 2B opener

(Tuesday, January 26th) Quitman has already tied a national record that can never be broken once this year. Now they have done again and this time when they held Choudrant without a point in the second quarter it led the way to a 56-51 victory in the district 2B opener for both teams.

Not only was the 16-0 second quarter margin impressive it was much needed. Choudrant had taken a 22-15 first quarter lead and after trailing at the half by nine outscored Quitman 17-10 in the third to narrow the margin to 41-39 heading into the fourth quarter. The Wolverines then took the final frame 15-12 to  win their ninth straight and move to 14-3 overall and 1-0 in district 2B play.  Choudrant fell to 11-8 and 0-1 after dropping their third straight. 

Joshua Smith had a strong game for Quitman with a double-double of 20 points and 10 boards, as well as, four blocks and three steals. Cooper Williams and John Pabaya had a pair of trey’s each and finished with 13 and 12 respectively. Also contributing was Ethan Everett with six, Blake Carter three and Ty Simonelli 2. 

Quitman (14-3, 1-0)	15	16	10	15	56
Choudrant (11-8, 0-1)	22	0	17	12	51

QHS scoring: Smith 20, Williams 13, Pabaya 12, Everett 6, Carter 3, Simonelli 2
CHS scoring: n/a

Simsboro storms past Weston in 2B opener

(Tuesday, January 26): There is really only one way to describe the outcome of Simsboro’s 97-42,  district 2B opening game victory over Weston. NOT SURPRISING!  Already this season the Tigers from Lincoln Parish have won games by margins of 50, 51, 46, 57, 42, 40, 45 and 58 points. Simsboro is scary good and has been for a while, as in flirting with the makings of a rare school boy dynasty,  kind of good. 

Want proof? Over the past 3 1/2 years Simsboro has  a 128-15 record on their way to two Class B state championships and just two points away from winning three straight. This year the Tigers might just have their strongest team of all evidenced by their 15-1 record with their only loss being by three points to West Monroe, the #1 team in Class 5A. Their 83.38 points per game average is 6th best in the NATION and best in Louisiana by over 13 points according to stats provided by MaxPreps.com.

Simsboro led 24-9 after the first eight minutes and 61-13 at the break with Jace Holt, who had a team high 19, scoring all but two of Weston’s first half points.  Davis Tolar also reached double figures in scoring with 11 points and C.J. Steward, Cooper Harvey and Tate Henderson finished with 4,3 and 3 respectively, all four making their points in the second half. Landon Roberts also added two free throws in the second quarter. Eleven of the twelve players on the Simsboro roster tallied, led by 23 from Jamarian Cato.

Simsboro (15-1, 1-0)	24	37	18	18	97
Weston (9-14, 0-1)	9	4	16	13	42

SHS scoring: Cato 23, Newton 15, Maryland 10, Abney 10, Brantley 9, Wright 7, Taylor 6, McCallister 5, Outley 4
WHS scoring: Holt 19, Tolar 11, Steward 4, Harvey 3, Henderson 3, Roberts 2

Saline surges into second place in district 1B

Don’t look now but Saline is becoming a dangerous team to play. Just ask Castor who Saline beat 81-54 this past Friday. If you won’t believe them then give 4th ranked and defending Class B state champion, Doyline, a call. They will tell you the same after Saline came within a whisker of giving the undefeated Panthers their first loss in 36 games dating back to last year before falling by a 95-87 score. The point total was the most Doyline has given up since 2017.

For really the first time all season Saline is finally at full strength. Earlier in the year the Bobcats dealt with COVID issues not one but twice resulting in only four games being played before January. Then there was the problem of getting the players in game shape. As result their overall record stands at only 6-7 but with the split of the past week’s games Saline moved to 2-1 in 1B play. 

The Bobcats simply destroyed Castor this past Friday night with a tremendous balanced effort. Over the four quarters Saline scored 19, 20, 22 and 20 points while winning each period by 9,7,10 and one after head coach Klint Robinson emptied his bench in the fourth. Castor fell to 4-11 and 0-3 in district play.

It was the two Titus’s, as in Titus Malone and Titus Jackson and burly post player Ethan Roberts that did most of the damage in the first three periods with all three scoring their 17,16 and 12 points respectively before taking a seat for the final eight minutes. Freshman Trent Ledbetter then took over in the fourth frame when in his first real extended time on the court this year scored a career high 11 points. Cannon Loe also got into the act by adding seven, also a new career high. Jacob Jones was the third to set a new career high in scoring with six. Additional contributors were Blake Clifton – 4, Stephen Brown – 3, Rafe Martin 2, Ryder Blanchard -2 and Kenton Lee Crawford one as Saline had a season best, 11 players score.  

Saline (6-7, 2-1)	19	20	22	20	81
Castor (4-11, 0-3)	10	13	12	19	54

SHS scoring: Malone 17, Jackson 16, Roberts 12, Ledbetter 11, Loe 7, Jones 6, Clifton 4, Brown 3, Martin 2, Blanchard 2, Crawford 1
CHS scoring: YOung 16, Clark 14, Shirley 6, Mathews 4, Cooper 4, Bates 4, Warren 2, Bryant 2, Alsup 2

Bobcats put scare in Doyline

It is a safe bet that Doyline wasn’t expecting homestanding Saline to give them the game they did. After all, last year the defending Class B champs who hasn’t lost a game in over a calendar year beat the Bobcats by 32 and 37 points and Saline entered the contest this past Tuesday week with only a 5-6 record. The Panthers probably still didn’t feel threatened after taking a 28-16 first quarter lead but suddenly things started to change.

By the end of the contest Doyline knew they had been in a game as over the last three quarters Saline took a 71-67 margin advantage despite having three players foul out. On the night Saline had 24 fouls called on them to just 14 against Doyline. You can also believe that if the Panther players didn’t know before they now know that Titus Malone and Ethan Roberts can do serious damage. Malone led the way for Saline with a career high 31 points, with 18 of those coming in the final quarter followed by 28 from Roberts, who was virtually unstoppable all game. Titus Jackson made an impression as well by scoring all seven of his points in the second quarter before being saddled with foul trouble. Blake Clifton, Ryder Blanchard and Kenton Lee Crawford added five each and both Will Dison and Jacob Jones scored a basket to round out the Bobcat’s scoring. 

Saline (6-7, 2-1)	16	20	20	31	87
Doyline (8-0, 3-0)	28	17	21	29	95

SHS scoring: Malone 31, Roberts 28, Jackson 7, Clifton 5, Blanchard 5, Crawford 5, Dison 2, Jones 2
DHS scoring: Clark 35, Markray 22, Dotie 22, Mingo 11, McClendon 2, McDivitt 1

Additional area scores:

Monday, January 25: Ruston 71 Homer 36
Tuesday, January 26: Many 65 Winnfield 46; Dodson 80 Castor 59; Calvin 69 Atlanta 60
Wednesday, January 27: Simsboro 91 Kilbourne 46
Friday, January 29: ASH 41 Ruston 37; Winnfield 60 Sterlington 48; Arcadia 48 Haynesville 27; Delhi 72 Cedar Creek 55; Doyline 81 Dodson 46; Buckeye 55 Calvin 44