By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports

Centenary football coach Byron Dawson is a big man, with a big smile. It was especially big Thursday evening, beaming as he stood in front of a crowd eagerly awaiting the moment the college’s president, Dr. Christopher Holoman, would cut the ribbon to officially dedicate the Gents’ new football-centric athletic facilities.

Two years ago, Dawson was a man entrusted with a dream, the idea being the rebirth of a long dormant football program at a college with an enrollment well under 1,000 students. Thursday, the Gents’ new fieldhouse – featuring locker rooms for football, softball and women’s soccer and coaches offices, overlooking the completed artificial turf practice field adjacent to the soccer/football field – was opened for supporters to see.

A football program that adopted the mantra “now we go” to signal the early stages of developing the program passed a milestone with Thursday’s ceremony.

Said Dawson: “We’re transitioning from ‘now we go’ to ‘now we grow.’ Now we grow our roster. Now we grow as a team. Now we grow new facilities and a new stadium. Now we grow our student enrollment. Great things are happening here.”

The timing of the ribbon-cutting was coincidental, Holoman told the crowd, but appropriate.

“It is two and a half years ago to (Friday), that we stood here and announced the return of football to Centenary College. There were some skeptics, I think it’s fair to say. But here we are. An amazing coaching hire, 70-plus student-athletes, $2 million raised, an 8-1 record in a preliminary season – I believe we’re proving the skeptics wrong,” said the president.

With an audience that included Shreveport Mayor Tom Arceneaux and several other public officials and community leaders, it was clear by bringing back football, even at the NCAA Division III level, Centenary has strengthened its local connections.

The Gents showed off a 4,700-square foot fieldhouse that looks out at a 76,500-square foot practice field. After playing a nine-game exhibition season last fall, Centenary will officially kick off football with a 10-game slate including six home contests, opening on Sept. 7 just behind the Gold Dome against Hendrix (Ark.).

“This is just a testament of the hard work and commitment, what’s already been put in the ground. Progress is a process,” said Dawson. “We’ve got good seed in the ground and we’re able to see some harvest. Coming from our season, we only lost one game. Building off that, having a great recruiting class of guys coming in this fall, and now to have these facilities complete.

“That kind of progression gives you momentum, and we just want to ride that wave and use it to take us to new heights.”

Dawson, who played at LSU and was an assistant coach at Tulane along with winning a state title as head coach at Evangel Christian Academy, where he was an All-America defensive lineman, has seen some of the finest facilities in college football. What stands out about his new digs?

“Whenever you can have two turf fields right beside each other, even some Division I programs don’t have that. To have a coach’s office overlooking those fields, to be in close proximity where you don’t have to walk across campus to get to the athletic facilities – and to be centered right in the middle of Shreveport, it’s a great location,” he said. “Being Louisiana’s oldest and first college (founded 1825), we take pride in that.”

The timing was ideal for the ceremony, as Holoman pointed out, and Dawson amplified in his remarks to the crowd.

“We theme our days in our football program, and this is ‘Thankful Thursday.’ Thinking of all the people who made this day possible, we’re so grateful,” he said.

“Shreveport-Bossier, we have college football. We can’t wait to play.”

Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com

By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports

Persistence made the difference.

For Southwood’s Jeremiah Evans, who overcame a fractured ankle last summer to put together an All-State senior season that led the Cowboys to the state semifinals.

For the UL-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns, the one NCAA Division I program that stayed with Evans after his injury in late July.

“When coaches who were recruiting me found out, they just pushed away and stopped contacting me. UL stayed true and was the only school that stayed with me. They wanted me down there.”

Evans was getting notice from Texas A&M, LSU, Grambling and Northwestern State, he said, but it faded while coach Bob Marlin and the Ragin’ Cajuns program never wavered.

That persistence from Evans and the Cajuns culminated Thursday afternoon when Evans made it official in the Southwood gym Thursday afternoon and signed to play in the 11,550-seat Cajundome and in the Sun Belt Conference.

“They really wanted me. Some schools I might not hear from for a month at a time but they were steadily in touch with me,” he said.

Although Evans made his decision quite a while ago, and the Cajuns honored their commitment, the 6-10 forward/center said Thursday’s ceremony was fulfilling.

“It feels great to be signed. It means a lot to get this opportunity, and I have to take full advantage of it by going down there and showing them my full bag, everything I can do to show why they signed me.”

His numbers don’t tell the whole story. Evans was a first-team Class 5A All-State selection and the MVP in very tough District 1-5A by averaging 22 points and 15 rebounds. The point total is more impressive considering the patient pace of most Southwood games, especially in district action where defense was at a premium.

Evans was the overwhelming choice as the Shreveport-Bossier Journal Player of the Year. His last game in his hometown ended on his game-winning 3-pointer at the final buzzer in Captain Shreve’s gym to upset the Gators – who had swept the regular-season series with the Cowboys – and fulfill Southwood’s target of making the state tournament.

“Coach (Brandon Gultery) had said, ‘we’re going to get the ball to you and if you can shoot it, shoot it.’ I trusted myself, and he trusted me, and the rest of my team trusted me to make that shot,” recalled Evans.

“I learned a lot from him. He’s been here the same four years I have been, and he’s showed love and he cares about me,” said Evans. “He’s made us work and helped us get better and better each year.”

Gultery said in their first meeting in 2020, goals were outlined. They’ve been realized.

“A 6-7 kid walks into your locker room, and it’s a kid you’ve heard about, but didn’t know if he’d wind up with us with me being the new kid on the block, it was special to see him develop. I asked him if he had an NBA player whose skill set was similar to what he wanted to be, and he said, ‘Kevin Durant.’ I said, ‘that’s a stretch, however, I do see you being a really good Anthony Davis, a big guy who can stretch the floor, can shoot 3s — like what happened against Shreve — but a guy who can post up and dominate the paint.’

“I must say that with the work we’ve put in for four years, that’s a good comparison. It’s an amazing testament to his hard work and determination,” said Gultery.

Evans, who wants to pursue a career in sports medicine as a personal trainer or physical therapist, will major in kinesiology at UL-Lafayette. He’s far from the only successful Southwood senior moving on to college.

“In that senior class, Jeremiah is the one who deservedly gets the most attention but we have other young men I’m very proud of,” said Gultery.

Detreveon Lars is headed to play at Wiley College. Tyler Williams is going to Grambling State majoring in engineering and cyber security on a full academic scholarship after making straight A’s in his four seasons on campus.

“To see those young men moving forward, in addition to a very sought-after, acclaimed and deserving 6-10 kid, that’s the icing on the cake,” said Gutlery.

Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com

It’s Eddie Robinson, Fred Hobdy, Wilbert Ellis, Collie J. Nicholson, and president and baseball coach Ralph Waldo Emerson Jones, the cornerstone personalities of an incomparable legacy, developed over many years in relative obscurity, in the red clay hills and piney woods of north Louisiana.

There’s Buck Buchanan, Willie Davis, Willie Brown, and Charlie Joiner, all in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

It’s Doug Williams, Sammy White, Everson “Cubby” Walls, Ernie Ladd and James “Shack” Harris, all with their distinctive places in NFL history.

From the hardwood, along with Hobdy, it’s his greatest player, Willis Reed, the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame member. They combined to win a national championship, an NAIA title in 1961. Another Hobdy superstar: Bob Hopkins, who scored 3,759 points as Tiger from 1952-56, a total exceeding the NCAA Division I standard of 3,667 from Pistol Pete Maravich at LSU more than a decade later.

In the 1970s came future pro players Aaron James, Larry Wright and Kenny Simpson.

Just to drop a few names.

Grambling is no newcomer to the national stage. Robinson and Nicholson took the Grambling football show on the road to major cities in the 1960s and 1970s, including games in Yankee Stadium, and the combination of big crowds in big markets and prime-time players from Grambling in the NFL, AFL and NBA, coupled with the charm and brilliance of “Coach Rob,” made an impression on the American sports consciousness.

Add in the World Famed Band Tiger Marching Band, the featured halftime attraction at the first Super Bowl, as another factor as Grambling emerged among the iconic brands of college sports years before the creation of ESPN, and the proliferation of college sports on television.

It’s Grambling State University. The Mighty G. GramFam. A college that for the first six decades of is existence served students who could not attend most higher educational institutions close to them.

It’s where “Everybody is Somebody.”

And as of about 8 p.m. Central Daylight Time Wednesday night, Grambling became quite something once more.

For all of the glow of big-time college sports, the electricity of March Madness is incomparable, in no small part because of the small schools involved, and the opportunity they get to square off against the super powers on a neutral court, five-on-five, for 40 minutes.

Wednesday night was not that kind of matchup. Friday evening will be, when the 16^th seeded Grambling Tigers tip off against No. 1 Purdue in the “first round” of this year’s NCAA Tournament.

That’s because Wednesday night in college basketball’s paradise, Dayton, Ohio, in UD Arena, at the NCAA’s First Four “opening round” event, Grambling did two things it had never achieved before.

1. Tipped off in the NCAA Division I Championship, for the first time in 46 years of eligibility. The Tigers had never before won the right to represent their league, the Southwestern Athletic Conference, in the Big Dance. They took care of that the previous week, and took the court Wednesday against NCAA Tournament veteran Montana State (six appearances, including a current streak of three straight).
2. They won an NCAA Tournament game. In overtime, overcoming a 14-point second-half deficit, making a heroic charge in the closing minutes and taking total control in the final two minutes of overtime.

It was nearly exactly a year ago to the day when Grambling’s greatest basketball star passed away. Willis Reed, whose Number 50 Tigers jersey was finally raised in the rafters of the Fred G. Hobdy Assembly Center just a year before, died last March 21.

“This is something I will remember and cherish the rest of my life,” he said that January night in 2022, proudly wearing a Grambling letter jacket.

His New York Knicks No. 19 jersey had been retired almost a half-century earlier, in 1976, commemorating a career that earned him a spot in the NBA’s 50 Greatest Players in its first five decades. But his heart was always centered back along I-20.

“People would ask me, ‘Where would you like to go to a game at?’ Let’s go to Grambling to see them play football, let’s go see them play basketball. I feel like I’m at home here,” said Reed that night.

His smile said even more. The only thing about Wednesday night’s win that wasn’t just right, was that Reed wasn’t around to see it.

Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com

Much of the sports commentary world is mad at Kim Mulkey.

The LSU women’s basketball coach has been defying conventional wisdom since she was a little girl, the only one around Hammond or nearly any place else who was playing baseball with the boys. She was the No. 1 draft pick after tryouts and was a pitcher, catcher and shortstop in the local Dixie Youth League. There was no softball league for girls.

That went so well she made the all-star team. Then before the first game, tournament officials said she couldn’t even sit in the dugout, let alone play, because she was a girl – or her team would have to forfeit. Her dad had hired an attorney, but in the early 1970s, that went nowhere. So she stood outside the fence, and her teammates dedicated the win to her.

She’s not passed up many fights since. She’s willing to be unpopular, the lone wolf even, because she’s been there before. She passed on her dream job, succeeding legendary Leon Barmore at Louisiana Tech, because Tech president Dan Reneau would not give her a five-year contract – only four. Off she went to become head coach at Baylor.

“Thank God for unanswered prayers,” she’s said again and again, fiercely loyal to Louisiana Tech, but still to this day frustrated that Reneau would not grant her fifth-year wish/demand.

It worked out fantastically well for Baylor, which immediately began winning big in women’s hoops, whipping up on Texas and everybody else from coast to coast.

Grant Teaff, legendary retired football coach at Baylor, said Mulkey could coach any sport and succeed,  because at her core, she is a teacher who truly cares about her players as people.

“She’s a hard-nosed coach that’s demanding,” said Teaff in a 2012 interview, “but she loves them like a mother.”

Her autobiography is titled “Won’t Back Down.” The dedication to her children, daughter Makenzie (a starter for her at Baylor) and son Kramer (of LSU baseball fame), finished with the admonition, “Above all, stand your ground – and don’t back down.”

She was named “Wacoan of the Year” after the Lady Bears won the 2011 NCAA Final Four, her second national title at Baylor. An interview with the Wacoan magazine wrapped up with words that still ring true:

“There’s no secrets with me. What you see is what you get. All I want to do is represent Baylor in a way that makes them proud.

“That doesn’t mean I’m perfect, and that doesn’t mean I won’t make mistakes. But if, ultimately, I graduate my players (she was the first in her family to get a college degree, and of course had a perfect 4.0 at Tech as a business major), and I put a product on the floor that represents Baylor in the way they want to be represented, then I consider that my job.”

Sub in “LSU” for “Baylor” and that’s Mulkey today. 

She’s also a lightning rod, unquestionably the most controversial figure in her sport, maybe all of sports. When LSU won last year’s NCAA championship, the New York Times’ headline read, “Kim Mulkey, a Colorful and Divisive Coach, Wins Another Title.”

Google “Kim Mulkey controversy” and you get a very long list of links to consider.

The latest: her comments in the wake of Sunday’s altercation – it wasn’t really a fight; punches get thrown in fights – between some players from LSU and South Carolina near the end of the titanic Southeastern Conference Tournament championship game. It was triggered when burly South Carolina center Kamilla Cordoso ran into a confrontation and floored LSU guard Flau’jae Johnson with a violent shove, and then for a few moments things were on the brink of a brawl.

Johnson’s lame-brained brother zoomed in from the stands to defend her. He was swiftly taken away by security and later correctly charged with third-degree assault and battery, and disorderly conduct. Fans, not even family, have no place where he was. Anyone suggesting it was understandable, that’s beyond understanding.

Mulkey’s reaction, however counter to conventional wisdom, is not.

“No want wants to see that ugliness, but I can tell you this,” said Mulkey, “I wish (Cordoso) would’ve pushed (much bigger) Angel Reese. Don’t push a kid; you’re 6-8. Don’t push somebody that little. That was uncalled for, in my opinion. Let those two girls that were jawing go at it.”

She seemingly shrugs off her many critics, and it bothers them. Monday on ESPN’s popular First Take show, panelist Shannon Sharpe ripped her and called for media to “hold her accountable.” If he wanted near-unanimous condemnation, he’s happy.

But understand where she sits, and why she said what she did. That was her player who got attacked by an opponent. It was the byproduct of a game that lacked officiating to limit rough play, something Mulkey cited – and got no disagreement from anyone.

She wasn’t right to suggest a Reese vs. Cordoso rumble, although it was sanctioned by the referees all afternoon. Mulkey didn’t major in political science at Tech, and she’s bold, brash, and rock-solid in her convictions.

It’s at the core of her DNA. It’s as big a part of her success as her coaching and recruiting brilliance, which is undeniable. What she says sometimes will turn off plenty of people – but her approach galvanizes her team, magnetizes recruits, and those are vital components of a coaching resume that stands among the very best in her sport or any other.

Maybe she’ll walk back her remarks about the altercation, maybe not. Hope so. She admits she makes mistakes. But one thing about Kim Mulkey: she will speak her mind. Brace yourself if that bothers you.

Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com

By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports

A 21-win season is really good, but it doesn’t feel so spiffy this morning at Louisiana Tech.

The Bulldogs were playing for the Conference USA championship on their homecourt Thursday night, hosting the other team tied for first in the league, newcomer Sam Houston State. The stage was set for Tech to avenge a conference season-opening 81-77 loss to the Bearkats in Huntsville, Texas.

But it was the visitors who opened a 15-point second half lead. Tech (21-9, 11-4) made a heroic stretch run, getting within 69-66 with 12.4 seconds to go, but Sam Houston (19-11, 12-3) didn’t flinch, made three free throws and danced off Karl Malone Court with a title-clinching 72-66 win.

Tech wraps up its regular season at home Saturday afternoon against Middle Tennessee with a slim hope of winning and getting a co-championship if Sam Houston stumbles at home against Jacksonville State – who beat the visiting Bearkats 79-68 a month ago.

But by sweeping the Bulldogs, even if there’s a tie after Saturday’s games, Sam Houston gets the top seed in the CUSA Tournament, to be played in Huntsvillle – Alabama.

GRAMBLING:  Four miles west of the Thomas Assembly Center, the Tigers (17-13, 14-3) wrapped up a successful defense of the Southwestern Athletic Conference title Monday night at the Fred C. Hobdy Assembly Center by beating Bethune-Cookman 69-60.

Thursday night, they pulled out a 74-73 road win at Alabama A&M, and will cap the regular season at Alabama State Saturday.

The regular-season crown is the third for Grambling under coach Donte Jackson.

NORTHWESTERN STATE: It’s a standard end-of-game question in college basketball: if you’re up by 3 in the closing seconds and on defense, do you foul before the other team can shoot, therefore preventing a game-tying 3-pointer?

First-year Demons’ coach Rick Cabrera didn’t, twice, but now he probably will.

Last Saturday, the Demons led a good Lamar team all afternoon and were up 3, defending with under 10 seconds left. The Cardinals hit a game-tying 3-pointer, forced overtime and won. Then Wednesday night in the regular-season finale at Texas A&M-Commerce, the Demons were up by 3 with the Lions inbounding under their own basket with under two seconds left. They got a game-tying trey at the buzzer, over two defenders, and won in triple overtime.

It didn’t impact NSU’s postseason tournament draw much. The Demons are the sixth seed in the Southland Tournament at Lake Charles and play Sunday, but will now rematch with the same Lions’ club.

WOMEN

GRAMBLING:  The Lady Tigers are assured of the No. 2 seed (behind SWAC unbeaten Jackson State) in the conference tournament, with new coach Courtney Simmons leading Grambling to a sparking 20-win season (20-8, 14-3).

GSU is riding a nine-game winning streak heading into Saturday’s regular-season wrapper at Alabama State.

LOUISIANA TECH:  The Lady Techsters have hit their stride going into March. After a brutal five-game losing skid by a total of 21 points, they’ve won five of their last six, including the last four, and are 13-17 overall but a solid 7-8 in CUSA heading into a visit to Middle Tennessee on Saturday.

NORTHWESTERN STATE: It’s been a struggle down the stretch for the Lady Demons (11-18, 7-11) who will be the seventh seed in the eight-team Southland Conference Tournament in an 11 a.m. first-round game Monday in Lake Charles. NSU has lost its last two and six of the last eight.

A happy note: fourth-year head coach Anna Nimz is expecting her first child in May.

Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com

By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports

Mary Ward stunned her Benton High School girls basketball team, and a lot of other people, Tuesday with her decision to step down as the Lady Tigers’ head coach after 18 highly-accomplished seasons in that role, with 400 wins and a 2020 state championship.

But her assistant coaches weren’t caught off guard. Certainly not her husband, Randy, and her very close friend and fishing buddy Michelle Owens. Ward’s younger protégé, Lyndzee McConathy, sensed it might happen.

Still, the afternoon team meeting was emotional for everyone. And the reality that somebody else will be running the program, and Ward won’t be in gymnasiums around north Louisiana and beyond for countless days, nights and weekends around the calendar, is a little unsettling far past Benton.

“I don’t think anybody had an idea this was coming,” said Owens, “because Mary just pours everything into girls basketball at Benton High School. It shocked a lot of people, but when it’s time, you know it, like she said.”

Recently they discussed the decision as it solidified.  Owens, alongside Ward on the Benton bench for every one of the program’s 607 games since 2006-07, said Ward’s impact is widespread.

“She’s so easy to work with and is such an inspiration not only to other coaches, but other players. She’s so respected all over the state,” said Owens.

“She is truly one of the staples of girls’ basketball in north Louisiana and across the state,” said McConathy, who is the daughter of very successful girls’ coaches at South Beauregard and played collegiately at Northwestern State.

Benton made three straight state championship game appearances in 2019-21. There were semifinal appearances at Marsh Madness in 2012 and 2018. Ward was also head coach at Bossier for three years before moving north, and began a year earlier as an assistant coach.

She also was a dynamic player at Baylor, still owning the single-game scoring record with 54 points against national power Texas.

For McConathy, who left the head coaching post at Airline last spring to rejoin Ward at Benton allowing the younger coach to put more focus on her own growing family, the last year has been inspiring.

“For the last 11 years, Mary Ward has been my mentor and my friend. I have learned so much about basketball, and blending the game of life with basketball, and being a great mother while still being a great coach,” she said. “My opportunity to come back to Benton and work under her again has been an incredible year. I’m extremely grateful for all I’ve learned from her.”

Ward explained being able to focus on family – son Ryan and daughter Emily are at LSU, with Emily a year removed from ending her playing career on LSU’s national championship team – and not having her schedule constrained by coaching duties is something she’s welcoming. She also looks back gratefully.

“The memories created, the relationships made and the lessons learned on and off the court will forever hold a special place in my heart,” she said. “I am grateful for the dedication of my coaching staff and he exceptional talents of the student-athletes who have graced our team.

“Together, we have achieved milestones,” said Ward.

It’s not like she’ll be stepping that far away. Ward will continue teaching business at Benton, and she and Owens will still spend many hours together – on the water, for sure.

“We’ll be friends forever. She’s as good a friend as you could hope to have. She’s a pretty good fisherman on the side, too,” said Owens.

Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com

By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports

It’s always good to play at home. Sunday for Centenary College, and not just the Gents’ basketball team, it was as good as it gets.

Punching a ticket to March Madness on your homecourt is tough to top. The Gentlemen, seeded third in the six-team Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament, outlasted fourth-seeded Colorado College 83-76 and earned a spot in the NCAA Division III Tournament.

Centenary (17-11) finds out during a noon selection show today streamed on NCAA.com where it will play Friday in a first-round contest. It’s likely to be in Texas, perhaps at SCAC regular-season champion Trinity, upset by Colorado College Saturday in the semifinals, or at UT-Dallas, another likely at-large regional site host. That’s where the Gents went for their last NCAA appearance, in 2020, just before the pandemic shut down the big-school Big Dance and everything else.

This weekend, having been awarded homecourt advantage in a tournament site rotation schedule for the first time since 2016, Centenary edged fourth-seeded Schreiner in a not-that-close (Schreiner hit a last-second 3-pointer) 76-75 first-rounder on Friday, then dispatched second-seeded, 20-win St. Thomas 64-51 Saturday afternoon. Meanwhile, Colorado College won Friday, then stunned top-seeded Trinity by one in Saturday’s first semifinal.

Sunday, Centenary fed off its own intensity and the enthusiasm of its student section, including athletes from many of the college’s other sports teams. But the battle on the court turned on defense and the sizzing shooting by Tykeem Singleton, who nailed 12 of his 14 shots – including all five 3-pointers – in a blistering 33-point career day, adding a team-best 7 rebounds in his final homecourt appearance.

The Gents’ first-team All-SCAC senior stalwart, Seth Thomas, offset subpar shooting from the field (4-15) by going 9 of 11 at the free throw line while finishing with 18 points.

In a championship contest between two understudies, Centenary survived 10 ties and eight lead changes, but never trailed in the final 14:25. The Gents pushed away from the more physical Tigers (16-12) despite getting beaten on the boards 42-23 and grabbing just one offensive rebound.

Centenary took control with lock-down defense in a six-minute span, outscoring the visitors 10-1 into a 68-57 advantage with 5:15 remaining.

The difference? Said Singleton: “Our energy, our intensity. We turned it up a notch. We got scrappy, we got handsy, getting steals. I would say the defense pushed us to get on that run.”

But Colorado College made Centenary sweat. The Tigers moved within 73-69 with 55 seconds left, and after the Gents scored the next four points, Colorado College clawed back within 79-76 on a 3-pointer with 20 ticks to go. But Thomas drained two free throws and Quentin Beverly sank 3 of 4 while the Tigers faltered.

“We beat Colorado twice in the regular season and we know it’s hard to beat a team three times, and they came off that Trinity win with a lot of momentum,” said Thomas. “We knew we had to fight to the buzzer.”

Riding Singleton’s spectacular showing was special for Thomas, as they were freshmen on the last Gents’ NCAA Tourney team.

“It was amazing watching him play. He’s been having a good year, too, and it was awesome seeing him giving his all in the last game at home,” he said.

That was Singleton’s compelling motivation, he confirmed.

“Honestly, just everyone telling me this was the last game I ever have in the Dome, I wanted to help my team the best that I can, and that’s what happened,” said the tournament MVP, who didn’t make the regular-season All-SCAC Team after averaging under nine points per game. “I gave my team everything I had.

“I was just locked in on another level. I wanted to feel that championship feeling. It’s been a little while. I wasn’t even thinking about the points. I was just playing, and it kinda just happened.”

His final basket, a trey with 2:42 left, lifted the Gents up 72-62, and although the outcome wasn’t secured yet, it seemed certain. Singleton looked at his right hand and waved it as he headed back down the court.

“I’m on fire. I’m on fire. The hand’s on fire,” he explained later.

“That last 3, yeah, I was just feeling it. Staying aggressive,” said Singleton. “I’ve been up and down this season being aggressive and being passive. I didn’t want to leave nothing on the floor today.”

He and his teammates didn’t. So they’re playing on.

Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com