CCHS to face Hamilton Christian in Division IV semifinals

No. 2 Central Catholic will be making its first state semifinal appearance in boys’ basketball in 18 years Tuesday when it meets No. 3 Hamilton Christian in the Division IV semifinals at Burton Coliseum in Lake Charles.
The semifinal appearance comes after falling in the quarterfinals the last two years, including in 2017 to Hamilton Christian.
While the goal for the squad is not just to make the semifinals, rather the first of what the Eagles hope is a two-game process to hoisting a state championship trophy, Friday’s come-from-
behind win against a bigger and athletic No. 10 seed in Southern Lab broke not only a streak for the current group but ended an hard-luck streak for Central Catholic Coach Ree Case.
Since making it to the semifinals in 2001, Case’s squads have had no problems making it to the quarterfinals, reaching the elite eight round eight previous times. However, they could not
get over the hump each time.
The Eagles (22-9) rallied against Southern Lab in this season's quarterfinal for a 65-58 victory to ensure that streak would not continue.
Case said he thought playing at home in the quarterfinals was a difference maker.
“This is the first time we’ve been home in the quarters in a long time,” Case said. “I think that was the difference in the game in the end, but like we talked about, our goal is not to make it to the
semis. Our goal is to win it, so now we got to refocus and get ready for Tuesday. Now it’s Tuesday. The quarterfinals (were) nice, but now we got to try to get ready to win on Tuesday.”
Tuesday, the Eagles will meet a Hamilton Christian squad that qualified for the state tournament this season for the third straight year after advancing to the semifinals in 2017 and 2018.
The Warriors have made it to the quarterfinal round every year since 2014.
The Eagles faced the Warriors twice in the last four years, most recently in 2017, falling 69-47 to Hamilton Christian in the quarterfinals in Lake Charles.
“To be honest, the last couple of times we’ve played them, they had better players than we did,” Case said. “The (Louisiana Ragin Cajun verbal c o m m i t M i c h a e l ) Thomas kid was a
freshman, but they had a couple of really good couple of guards that went to play college basketball. They were really senior-oriented, and we (weren’t). We played them a couple of years ago (and) we had eight guys on the team, so we’re a better basketball team than we were then, and they’re not as talented as they were then. They’re still a good team. I’m not saying that, but they had some really, really good players back then.”
Thomas, a junior point guard who announced his verbal commitment to play college basketball for the Ragin’ Cajuns last week, stands about 6-feet and is athletic, Case said.
Hamilton Christian has won six straight entering Tuesday’s matchup.
Hamilton Christian and Central Catholic have played several common opponents this year with the same results.
They both lost to Dunham, a Division III semifinalist this year, and they both defeated St. Martinville and Vermilion Catholic.
Like Central Catholic, Hamilton Christian received a first-round bye and defeated No. 19 St. Frederick 69-33 in the second round. The Warriors then routed No. 6 Vermilion Catholic in the quarterfinals 73-42.
While the Eagles defeated Vermilion Catholic by just one point in overtime in the final game of the regular season, Central Catholic was missing several key players for that matchup.
“The one thing that we have over them that we didn’t have the other night is we’re actually bigger than them,” Case said of Central Catholic’s advantage against Hamilton Christian, which they didn’t have against Southern Lab. “D.J. (Lewis) and Taylor (Blanchard) will actually have a little size advantage on them, which is kind of unique, especially after the other night.”
Case said the Eagles need to play their style of basketball and not get nervous Tuesday.
Central Catholic has three players averaging double figures in scoring this year. Senior Brooks Thomas leads the squad at 15.8 points per game, while senior Elijah Swan is second at 13.8 points a contest. Lewis, a freshman, is third on the team, averaging 10.5 points a game.
Central Catholic has won three straight entering the semifinals, beginning with their regular- season finale victory against Vermilion Catholic.
After receiving a first-round bye, Central Catholic defeated No. 15 Cedar Creek 87-40 in the second round of the playoffs before taking down Southern Lab Friday.
The winner of Tuesday’s Central C a t h o l i c - H a m i l t o n Christian contest will meet the winner of the other semifinal contest between top-ranked and two-time defending state champion Lafayette Christian Academy (29-4) and No. 4 Opelousas Catholic (24-6). That semifinal will be played at 4:45 p.m. Tuesday at Burton Coliseum.
The Division IV finals are set for Friday at noon in Lake Charles.