Morgan City High School, Class 4A No. 19 seed, upset No. 14 seed McDonogh No. 35, 56-43, in first-round Class 4A boys' basketball action in New Orleans Thursday. Above, Morgan City's Makye Richard drib
bles while defended by McDonough 35's Joseph Foucha. Richard led Morgan City with 15 points. Morgan City will play in the second round at home Tuesday at 7 p.m against Westgate. (The Daily Review/Geoff Stoute)
Fourth-quarter surge lifts MCHS to upset against McDonogh 35
The Morgan City High School Tigers used a fourth-quarter surge to upset the No. 14 seed McDonogh No. 35 Roneagles, 56-43, in first-round playoff action Thursday.
Trailing 39-38 early in the fourth quarter after a lay in by Cory R o b i n s o n o f McDonogh, Morgan City, the No. 19 seed, o u t s c o r e d t h e Roneagles, 18-4 the remainder of the period using, quite often, some easy lay ins along the baseline, shots that the Tigers weren’t utilizing earlier in the game.
“I thought the fourth quarter was outstanding,” Morgan City High School Coach J.P. Piper said. “There’s always stuff I want to clean up, but by and large, they did a great job of handing a lot of physical pressure form a very athletic team, but we didn’t look fazed by it. We broke it. We got easy buckets. I never told them to quit shooting three’s. I was willing to. They didn’t take one under four minutes. They knew we had to lay the ball up to win, and they worked it until they got easy layups, and I couldn’t be prouder of them.”
Makye Richard led the Tigers with 15 points. He was one of three Tigers in double figures along with Deondre Grogan with 11 and Tywaun Walker with 10. Other Morgan City scorers included Ke’Sean Francois, seven; Morrquise Charles, 6, Taaj Daniels, five; and Jared Singleton, three.
Antonio Warren and Joseph Foucha led McDonogh 35 with 10 points apiece.
Early on, Morgan City fell behind 7-0 in the first quarter, but rallied later in the period and tied the game at 7 on a trey by Richard with 4:05 remaining in the opening period. Morgan City led 16-11 after a period of play.
The first part of the second quarter was dominated by missed shots by both teams, including some around the rim by McDonogh 35. Both teams also turned the ball over often in the early part of the second quarter.
The scoring heated up later in the period, and Morgan City went into halftime with a 25-21 lead.
Morgan City led 35-32 after three quarters.
The Tigers now will host a second-round game when No. 3 Westgate comes to Morgan City Tuesday for a second-round contest at 7 p.m. Westgate advanced to the second round Thursday after defeating No. 30 Warren Easton, 74-67.