St. James proves too wild for Tigers

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After trailing most of the first half against the St. James Wildcats last week, the Donaldsonville Tigers basketball team finally took hold of the lead late in the third quarter. However it couldn’t sustain it and loss the game 73-63, a score that doesn’t reflect the game.

The game at the St. James gym was packed with fans and the atmosphere reflected the history of the rivalry between the Tigers and the Wildcats. Through all of that, all that could be seen was the youth in the Tigers lineup that seemed to resemble deer in headlights. DHS turned the ball over and fell behind quick and early.

“At the beginning of the game it was a little bit too big for us, we got swallowed up in the moment,” DHS head coach Barry Whittington said.

At the end of the first half, the Tigers trailed 34-27.

“It’s another experience that we learn from,” Whittington said. “A lot of these kids haven’t played in a game of this magnitude before and it showed.”

After finally getting a feel for the speed of the game, the Tigers were able to knock down some big buckets and worked to close the scoring gap. Whittington said the team is fighting, but it is putting itself in position to where it has to fight.

“Again, it was another game where we started from behind and we’re back tracking in that aspect,” Whittington said. “We need to be front-running and playing with a lot more energy and smarts.”

The Tigers loss gives them their second district loss of the season and Whittington said the team is still in the driver seat with what “we want to do.”

“It’s going to be really hard to go undefeated in this district because we have good coaches and good players,” Whittington said. “So, once we start doing what we need to do we’ll be okay.”

Whittington on what the team has to do to sustain the leads like the one the team gained against the Wildcats:

“Just execute our game plan and take quality shots instead of just shooting because we’re open.”

The team will next play Port Allen on Feb. 1 at home tipping off at 5 p.m. and Brusly away on Feb. 5 at 5 p.m.