Eagles use late run to survive Southern Lab's upset bid

Central Catholic is in the Final Four! Well, not that one, but it’s high school’s equivalent.
No. 2 Central Catholic used a late rally to stun No. 10 Southern Lab 65-58 in Division IV quarterfinal play Friday in Morgan City.
The win sends Central Catholic to its first semifinal appearance in boys’ basketball in 18 years. The Eagles (22-9) now will face No. 3 Hamilton Christian (26-8) in the Division IV semifinals Tuesday at 3 p.m. at Burton Coliseum in Lake Charles.
“This is indescribable,” Central Catholic senior Brooks Thomas said after Friday’s win. “We worked really hard, so it’s great to advance, but we’re not finished yet. Our goal has been a state championship since the first days of practices. We talked about it all week. We knew they were going to be a lot bigger than us, but that didn’t matter. We play our game. It doesn’t matter who’s on the other side of the court.”
Friday, Southern Lab took a three-point lead into the half and extended it to 34-24 with 6:11 remaining in the third quarter.
So, Central Catholic went to its full-court pressure, which forced two consecutive turnovers to cut the Kittens’ lead to 34-27 with 5:39 remaining in the third period.
“I wanted to press earlier, but the way the game went, we just couldn’t get in it,” Central Catholic Coach Ree Case said. “You can’t press if you don’t score. Once we were able to get into it, we sped the game up, and we were able to get some turnovers. So the press got us going on the offensive side, too, because we were just standing around. The press helped us more on offense than it did on defense tonight.”
But Southern Lab wouldn’t go away and pushed the lead back to 40-30 with 4 minutes left in the third quarter, with Central Catholic’s 3-pointers rimming out.
Thomas got an offensive rebound and put back at the 2:28 mark, which led to three straight buckets by senior Elijah Swan. Swan also was a factor on the boards all night for Central Catholic.
“We knew they had the size advantage, so coach had me help out on the boards,” Swan said. “But everyone did what they had to to get this win.”
Swan led all scorers with 27 points.
“Elijah is a matchup problem for most teams, and he and Brooks made plays down the stretch for us,” Case said.
Central Catholic point guard Davidyione Bias finished the third quarter scoring with free-throw and a layup to pull Central Catholic to win five at 47-42.
Central Catholic’s pressure started to rattle Southern Lab again, and the Eagles cut the Kittens’ lead to 53-47 with just under six minutes left.
Later, Lab turned the ball over and was forced to foul Swan to prevent a layup on the other end. He made both to pull within three.
Bias hit 1 of 2 free throws with 1:01 remaining to give Central Catholic a 60-58 lead. Southern Lab was forced to foul down the stretch, and Central Catholic made enough free-throws to seal the win.
Other Central Catholic scorers were Thomas with 12, while Bias and D.J. Lewis added 11 each. Demondrick Blackburn added four.
Hamilton Christian advanced to Tuesday’s semifinal after routing Central Catholic’s District 7-1A rival, Vermilion Catholic, 73-42 in quarterfinal action Friday.
In the other semifinal contest Tuesday in Lake Charles, top seed Lafayette Christian (29-4) and No. 4 Opelousas Catholic (24-6) will meet at 4:45 p.m.
The two Division IV semifinal winners will meet for the state title Friday at noon.