Lions battle back, use 2nd half surge to score parish win | Sports
The Golden Meadow Middle School boys’ basketball team, trailing by 15 points late in the 3rd quarter, needed a pull.
A couple of steals, a couple of ones, and about 8 minutes of play later, they got more than a jolt: they went for 21 straight points and a comeback community win.
The Lions defeated Sixth Ward 42-35 on Monday and earned a ward win in the final week of the middle school basketball season.
Golden Meadow was down 27-14 at halftime, then 31-16 with 3 minutes left in the 3rd quarter. The Lions ended the 3rd quarter with a furious rally, scoring 15 straight points to take the game into the 4th quarter on 31 points.
They never looked back in the fourth and kept piling it up to secure a comeback win.
“I said to my boys in the locker room, ‘Keep believing. Keep doing the things we’re good at,'” said Golden Meadow Middle School coach Damien St. Pierre. “I thought we did a good job in the second half. We changed our defense a little bit. We expanded the full pitch. They were under pressure. I think we knew a little bit better what they were trying to achieve… . It was just a great game and a great atmosphere here.”
In the first half, Sixth Ward found success in James Clement, Cole Trosclair and Damian Robinson, pushing the Blue Jays to a double-digit lead.
But in the second half, the pressure from the lions changed the game.
Golden Meadow got a 3-pointer from Ryan Greene, then buckled back, forcing multiple steals and transition opportunities from Ty’Reece Edwards, Nathan Billiot and others. In a 3-minute stretch to wrap up the 3rd quarter, the Lions went 15-0 and scored more points in that 3-minute stretch than they had in the 20 minutes of basketball before that.
In the 4th quarter, Golden Meadow took the lead, then iced the game, forcing more turnovers and transitioning.
Billiot had 17 points in the win. Greene added 14.
The Lions end their season against LCO on Thursday.
LIONS KEEP STEP, ESCAPE THE SIXTH WARD
The boys’ game was a back-and-forth thriller.
The girls’ game was an absolute flop.
Golden Meadow defeated Sixth Ward 45-13 on Monday, took a 17-0 lead and never looked back on the road to their 6th Ward win of the season.
Kayden Dardar dominated the win, scoring a game-high 30 points, attacking the Lady Jays and getting in the paint at will.
With the win, Golden Meadow now has a chance to compete for a share of the community championship on Thursday.
The stakes are simple: if Golden Meadow beats LCO, there will be a 3-way tie for the community championship, with each team having beaten the other. If LCO beats Golden Meadow, they win the title instantly.
St. Pierre said he did not speak to his team about the LCO game before the sixth precinct game because he wanted his team to focus on the task at hand.
But he said he will speak to them before Thursday’s game to get them ready.
