Crescent City Christian avenges loss, downs Grace Christian to reach Division V final

The defending champions are alive and well in the boys Division V Allstate Sugar Bowl LHSAA boys basketball tournament but must now await a crucial ruling from the LHSAA.

Third-seeded Crescent City Christian avenged an season opening loss to second-seed Grace Christian, defeating the Warriors 75-61 in the semifinals at Burton Coliseum in Lake Charles Monday.

Grace Christian defeated Crescent City Christian 83-81 in Metairie to open the season on Nov. 3 of last year.

Devonta Harris pumped in 26 points to pace the Pioneers (25-13).

“I was feeling it,” Harris said. “They were giving me the ball and they just told me to play my game and the results would come.”

Pioneers coach Shaun Dumas was full of praise for Harris.

“Devota is a firecracker,” Dumas said. “He can score in bunches and can impact the game at will. We have a lot of guys on our team like that. Today was Devonta’s day and he stepped up to the plate.”

Crescent City Christian led 19-13 after one quarter and 33-28 at halftime. After Grace Christian rallied to tie the game 35-35, the Pioneers took over and outscored the Warriors 40-26 the rest of the way.

Byron Joshua finished with 16 points for Crescent City while Johnny Vaughan added 10 points.

Elijah Hampton led Grace Christian (25-10) with 24 points, Cameron Morrison had 11 points and Ben Pruett had 10 points.

Crescent City Christian advances to the finals for a rematch against top-seed Jehovah-Jireh Friday at 10 a.m.

That is the good news.

The bad news is that it is uncertain if the entire Pioneers team will play in the game after a post-game skirmish which occurred as the two teams were shaking hands.

Punches were thrown and the fracas involved as many as four players.

“There is video of the fight and that it will be reviewed thoroughly, as will a police account of what transpired as the officials were already off the court,” LHSAA Executive Director Eddie Bonine said. “The appropriate action will be taken after it is determined exactly what transpired.”

Jehovah-Jireh beat Crescent City Christian 80-72 on Nov. 7 of last year. In the 2017 state championship game, the Pioneers outlasted the Warriors 69-64 in overtime on Mar. 10 of last year.

The Warriors advanced to this year’s title game by easily handled fourth-seed Episcopal of Acadiana 75-53.

Jehovah-Jireh led from start to finish, taking a 24-7 first quarter lead and the Warriors led 40-22 by halftime. They were never threatened in the second half.

Jaron Davis and Trenton Payne each had 13 points for Jehovah-Jireh (28-13) while Donald Johnson III and John Paul Ricks each scored 10 points in a balanced effort. Mark Dibbs was high for ESA (19-13) with 23 points while Tucker Arkin had 14 points and Danny Ahluwalia added 12 points.