After spotting Florien High School an eight point lead at intermission, homestanding Quitman High exploded for 52 second half points to win 78-62 to advance to the LHSAA Class B quarterfinals. 

With the victory, the Wolverines, seeded #6, improved to 24-6 on the year while #11 Florien sees their season end with a 16-21 mark. Quitman will now travel to #3 seed Zwolle on Friday, March 7th for their first quarterfinal appearance since 2007. The contest will mark the second time this season that the two squads will have played each other, the first in Quitman’s second game of the 2024-25 season, a close 65-63 Zwolle victory.

As the boys basketball team have now advanced to the quarterfinals for only the second time in 52 years and just the sixth time in school history, Quitman continues to re-write the school record books and continue what has been the most incredible run of sports success in Jackson Parish history over the past calendar year.

For the first time in school history, both the girls and boys basketball teams have advanced to the quarterfinal rounds of the playoffs in the same year. It marks yet another first in school history following the softball and baseball teams winning state championships for the first time last spring and along with the state championship won by the golf team, Quitman becoming the first school in Jackson Parish to win three state championship in one year. 

“I am so incredibly proud of this group,” said an elated Quitman High School head coach Mike Black. “Making the quarterfinals is something we have talked about accomplishing and they went out there and did it.”

Fast Start! To the delight of the home faithful that packed the QHS gymnasium the Wolverines jumped out to a 7-0 lead with Noah Leach and Brayden Smith sandwiching baskets around a Gavyn Caskey 3-pointer leading to Quitman taking an 18-13 lead after the first eight minutes of play. 

Second Quarter Swoon! The second quarter was a different story though as the normally patient Quitman offense started taking long shots early in the possession and turned the ball over 8 times during the frame that led to Florien winning the quarter 21-8. 

“We got out of character in the second quarter,” reflected Black. “We turned the ball over way to many times and settled for shots we can get just about any time.” 

Making Changes! With Quitman trailing 34-26 at the half to the taller opponent, coach Mike Black knew his team had the potential to win the game but some changes had to be made on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball. 

“We knew they had the size advantage, so defensively we made some changes to speed them up,” said Black. “The biggest thing I stressed though was that we had to get back to sharing the ball as when we are doing that we are at our best.”

Ask and you shall receive! Quitman came out executing Coach Black’s instructions to perfection, causing three quick turnovers on defense and moving the ball around for easy baskets that led to 17 straight points before Florien scored their first basket of the second half leading to Quitman holding a 49-42 lead heading into the final quarter. 

Fourth Quarter Flurry! As good as Quitman was in the third, the Wolverines played even better over the final eight minutes scoring 29 points in the fourth quarter to win going away. Continuing to execute the “ball sharing” scheme, the Wolverines went on a 12-3 run to open the quarter and never looked back as six Wolverines scored during the frame, that included Payton Nomey’s first four playoff points of his young career.  

Shooting the Lights Out! For the contest, the Wolverines hit an incredible 31 of 49 shots for a season best 63% shooting percentage from the field, That included making 8 of 19 shots (42%) from the 3-point line, led by four “trifectas by Gavyn Caskey, who led the Wolverine offensive attack with 20 points. As has been the case many times this season, the Wolverines saw multiple players also reach double figures in scoring as Noah Leach finished with 15 points and the Brayden’s (Martin and Smith) chipped in with 14 and 13 points respectively. Abel Leach and Taden Thomas contributed five points each and Larsen Thomas rounded out the scoring with a basket.