Marksville’s late run enough to down Red River for Division III Non-Select championship

LAKE CHARLES – The final day of the 2024 LHSAA Ochsner Boys Basketball Championships began with No. 6 Seed the Marksville Tigers facing the No. 13 seed Red River Bulldogs. The fans of the two teams traveled well and the contest was neck and neck until Marksville pulled away in the final three minutes for 67-59 victory in the Division III Non-Select championship game Saturday afternoon.

Trailing by five entering the third quarter, Marksville went on a 10-5 run to tie the game, 36-36, in a three-minute span. The Tigers soon led 46-42 with 1:20 to play in the quarter before the Bulldogs answered with a 8-2 run to end the quarter and retake the lead, 50-48.

“We came out with a lot of energy and I thought it was too much in the first half. We missed a lot of easy shots,” Marksville head coach Alex Perkins. “We went to halftime talked about the first half.”

It was tied at 59-59 with just over three minutes to go in the game before defense and free throw shooting down the stretch fueled Marksville’s decisive 8-0 run.

“We started gelling and got into a defensive rhythm. Down the stretch we got the lead and slowed down,” explained Perkins. “That’s what I like about high school basketball no shot clock.”

Red River led 19-18 after one quarter behind Chris Gay’s five points as he went 2-of-2 including a three-pointer. Warren Bowman added four. Marksville was led by Devin Lavalais with 8 points on a perfect 4-of-4 from the floor and Zac Schuler had six in the evenly-played opening period.

The lead for Red River expanded to 31-26 by halftime thanks to two more buckets by Gay, Jomello McDonald’s eight points and Colin Stafford’s five points.

“We played hard our shots didn’t fall as normal which hurt early and we couldn’t sustain our halftime lead,” Red River head coach Dadrian Harris said. “I felt our 13 seed was low we have been consistent this year and we have been battle tested in close games.”

Red River was led by Gay with 19 points and eight rebounds. Jomello McDonald had 17 points and 11 rebounds.

Marksville’s Devin Lavalais had a game-high 20 points including 6-8 from the free throw line and 12 rebounds. Zac Schuler posted 19 points.

“You want to gel at the end of the season and that’s what we did,” Perkins said. “We were 17-16 end of regular season but to be better you have to play tough.”

LHSAA Boys Prep Basketball Championship Results from Saturday, March 9
Noon—Non-Select Division III—(6) Marksville 67, (13) Red River 59
2 p.m.—Select Division IV—(1) Crescent City Christian 71, (2) St. Martin’s Episcopal 59
4 p.m.—Select Division II—(2) Peabody 43, (1) Madison Prep 40 (OT)
6 p.m.—Select Division I—(2) Liberty 62, (1) St. Thomas More 58
8 p.m.—Non-Select Division I—(2) Ponchatoula 75, (5) Natchitoches Central 60