Iowa will attempt to continue its dominance of District 3-3A boys basketball when it hosts Lake Charles College Prep at 7:25 p.m. today.

The Yellow Jackets (16-2, 2-0) went undefeated in district play last year and have won 13 district games in a row, dating to 2021. They opened district play last week with comfortable wins over South Beauregard and Westlake.

Head coach Robert Melanson said selfless play has been the team’s greatest strength.

“Team ball and the unselfish play of the players on the team,” he said. “I think that the kids have really played their roles on the team really well. They have done what we have asked them to do. What I mean is guys that are asked to be our better defenders have done so, guys that have been asked to be our major rebounders have done so. The 10 that have dressed in all 18 varsity games have done what has been asked.”

Melanson said production from everyone on the roster will be a key.

“We will need to continue to be unselfish and do what is asked,” he said. “We will have to play disciplined basketball; we have to limit our turnovers; we will have to be aggressive on the rebounding and our bench will have to play a big role. Guys like Donovan Winey, Lucious Guillory, Cameron Washington, Cohen Charles and Andrew Duhon will have to continue to give us quality minutes.

“They look to be deeper than they were last season, which is to be expected, being they bring back many for last season. They also look to be playing with a lot of confidence.”

The Trail Blazers (14-6, 1-0) have won both of their games since returning from a holiday tournament in Florida, including a 50-37 win over St. Louis Catholic on Friday night. Elijah Garrick scored 16 to lead three Blazers double-digit scorers. Prep’s rotation is deep, with head coach Sean Andrus at times subbing in five players at a time.

“Our moniker is strength in numbers,” Andrus said. “We’ve had games this year where we haven’t been at full strength and someone has always stepped up. I’m glad that our guys have bought in to what we’ve been teaching since the beginning of the season — that it is not one individual, but team success, that matters above all.”

Andrus said that poise will be a big factor tonight.

“They are a well-coached, tough-nosed team with a championship pedigree in terms of district,” Andrus said. “They have three good guards (Dashawn Ceaser, Desamonte Gradney and Landon Langley) that can score, attack and defend well. It is going to be a challenging game. We are looking forward to that challenge.

“For us to be successful, we will have to play our style of ball, which is physical defense, playing fast and taking care of the ball. We can’t play to the crowd, we know it is going to be sold out. We have to remain in the middle, not get too high after good plays or too low after mistakes.”