By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports
LAKE CHARLES – Maybe seven is the lucky number for the Calvary Baptist basketball program.
The Cavaliers will have to wait for next year to find out. Their sixth state championship game appearance Saturday was like the previous five, with an agonizing ending.
For the second consecutive year, Metairie Park Country Day upset a top-seeded Calvary club, winning 58-49 in the Select Division III finals at Burton Coliseum in the LHSAA’s Marsh Madness. It was the sixth state finals berth in the past seven years for Calvary, all ending in runner-up finishes.
The Cajuns were the third seed in the bracket and stunned No. 2 Dunham 51-49 in a Thursday semifinal on a fluke deflected basket in the closing seconds, but they had plenty of firepower (Kellen Brewer, son of New Orleans Pelicans’ assistant coach and former Florida Gators star Corey Brewer, and Curtis McAllister, son of Saints’ great Deuce) and a 700-win coach (Mike McGuire), helping secure their seventh state title.
Calvary junior point guard Tyrone Jamison scored 20 points, including a 25-foot 3-pointer that beat the halftime buzzer for a 22-17 Cavs lead. But Calvary suffered 21 turnovers and Country Day shot 51 percent overall while allowing only 38 percent aim, and held its own in rebounding (29-28 Cavs) after Calvary outrebounded De La Salle 50-22 in a 66-38 semifinal romp.
A young Country Day team shocked top-seeded Calvary 59-56 last March. This time, the Cajuns (24-5) used a decisive 16-4 run over six minutes after halftime to flip the five-point deficit into a 33-26 lead. The Cavaliers got the last four points of the period, but a 13-3 burst opening the fourth quarter built a 13-point advantage for Country Day.
Calvary got as close as 49-45, but Brewer led 11 for 13 free throw aim that kept the Cajuns in control.
It was a painful end to an 18-game winning streak and a 32-5 season by the Cavaliers. But all but two of coach Vic Morris’ squad returns, led by the top three scorers: Jamison (21 per game), Jaden Hall (15) and Robert Wright (11).
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com
Continue your article here…