Shawn Duhon has mastered the art of self-promotion.
After an Iowa-Westlake game last year, Duhon came up to me, introduced himself and told me to remember his name.
Friday night, he made sure I won’t be
forgetting it anytime soon, throwing done a putback dunk to give Iowa a
two-point win
over South Beauregard. The game was a welcome diversion from a
week of debates about the merits of splitting the public and
private schools.
Heading into the final week of the
hoops regular season, there are plenty of are athletes and teams that
are worth our attention,
particularly in the title chases for the boys titles.
Duhon and his Yellow Jackets teammates can clinch the District 4-3A title Tuesday night when they host the Westlake Rams,
who won the first game between the teams. The Rams have won six of their last seven games and will get at least a share of
the district title by winning out this week.
Iowa has won just five playoffs games
in the last three decades, none since 2010. That could change this
season with an experienced
group of seniors, but the Yellow Jackets probably need to win the
district and get the accompanying bonus point to its power
ranking to ensure getting a home playoff game.
Westlake is in the same boat, sitting
on the bubble for a first-round home game. The Rams have a pair of tall,
versatile athletes
in juniors Tyler Johnson and Jacory Washington. Like the Yellow
Jackets, the Rams have an experienced nucleus, but not a lot
of recent success. The Rams have not won a postseason game since
2000. Winning the district and getting a chance to end that
drought at home would be a big boost to the program.
Elsewhere, Washington-Marion’s loss at
Opelousas Friday has the District 4-4A title up for grabs. The Charging
Indians still
have a one-game lead over Opelousas, but W-M has a difficult
finish to the season with a tough trip to Beau Chene, which nearly
won the first game between the two in Lake Charles, and a regular
season finale against rival LaGrange. The Gators only lost
by three in the first W-M game and finally have some good momentum
going, winning all three games following the loss to W-M.
The Gators are fighting for a playoff
spot and could get a big power rating boost this week with wins over
Opelousas and W-M.
Opelousas needs to win its three games this week — including a
make-up game against St. Louis — and hope W-M loses at least
once to get at least a share of the district crown.
In District 4-2A, neighbors Rosepine and Pickering appear to be on a collision course for a tiebreaker game after splitting
its two district games. Neither team has lost to anyone else in the district.
Despite a home loss to Elton last week, Hamilton Christian still controls its own destiny in the 5-1A race, but face a tough
trip to Oberlin this week. A loss could result in a three-way between the Warriors, Tigers and Indians.
• • •
Warren Arceneaux covers high school athletics. Email him at warceneaux@americanpress.com