Warriors, Gents fall short in NCS tourney

The Northside Christian Warriors and the Crowley High Gents each came up short on Thursday in the opening round of the NCS Tournament at Seth Trahan Memorial Gym.
The Warriors dropped an 85-67 decision to Mamou in their opener and the Gents fell 49-42 to Ascension Episcopal.
Mamou tops Warriors
The Green Demons lit it up from behind the arc, dropping in 11 3-pointers in their victory over Northside Christian.
The Warriors didn’t do themselves any favors and aided in the Demons’ victory by committing 25 turnovers, including 10 in the opening frame.
The two teams went back-and-forth to start the game with the Warriors actually taking a 10-7 advantage midway through the first quarter.
Mamou turned up the defensive pressure from there with a swarming full-court press and was able to go on a 21-7 run over the final four minutes to take a 28-14 advantage.
Caleb Hanks scored eight of his team-high 20 points for the Warriors in the second quarter, but Mamou matched the hosts point-for-point in the frame and went into the break with a 47-33 cushion.
The Warriors opened the second half on an 8-2 run and Carson Tweedel’s putback with 4:32 remaining in the third quarter trimmed the deficit to single digits at 49-41.
Once again, the Demons had an answer.
Mamou went on a 12-4 run to end the quarter behind two long balls from Tylon Quincy and six points in the lane by Jerez Edwards to push the lead back to 16 at 61-45.
The Warriors got back within 10 points twice in the final frame thanks to 13 points from Jagger Thibodeaux, but they weren’t able to get any closer.
Mamou closed out the game on an 8-0 run over the final minute and a half.
Edwards led all scorers on the night and was one of five Demons to score in double figures with 24 points. Cole Enicke followed five 3-pointers and 19 total points and Tyrian Broussard scored 14 points.
Quincy added four 3-pointers and 12 points. Jaquan Jack also finished with 12 points.
Caleb Hanks was the leader for the Warriors with 20 points.
Thibodeaux followed with 19 points, including three straight shots from beyond the arc in the fourth quarter.
Garrett Kidder added 10 points in the loss, Andrew Woods had six and Carson Tweedel finished with five.
Gents fall short
Turnovers and missed opportunities proved costly for the Gents in their loss to AES.
The Gents missed a handful of shots in the lane and turned the ball over four times down the stretch, allowing the Blue Gators to pull away.
The Gents kept it close early on and trailed by just eight at the half (28-20).
Crowley got within four (34-28) in the third quarter on a basket by James Collins, but AES scored seven unanswered points after that and pushed the lead to 39-31 heading into the final stanza.
Crowley chipped away again in the final quarter and got within three (45-42) on Zuri Poullard’s basket in the lane with 1:22 remaining.
Turnovers and two missed shots by the Gents after that resulted in four straight free throws by AES to close out the game.
Travonta Ben was the high-man for Crowley with 10 points. Collins followed with nine points, Poullard and Omar Butler each added eight and Chris George had seven.