Staff Report

The Patterson Lumberjacks went 2-2 at Metairie Park Country Day’s tournament Thursday through Saturday.

The squad dropped their first two contests Thursday to St Thomas More, 66-48 and McDonogh 35, 54-43.

The Lumberjacks finished third in pool play and began play in the Bronze bracket where they beat L.B. Landry, 67-47, Friday and Hancock, Miss., 74-41, Saturday.

“In the first two games of the weekend, we played like an inexperienced team,” Patterson coach Ryan Taylor said. “We didn't handle the adversity of bad things happening in the game very well. We made one mistake turn into two all game long. I thought we regrouped well for the last two days of the tournament. The last two games we played within ourselves a lot better. We let the game come to us.”

However, the coach did note that his squad still is “making too many carless mistakes.”

While Taylor said it wasn’t easy playing two games in one day, he said, “I thought we learned a lot from it. We will be better from playing in this tournament.”

Against St. Thomas More, DJ Jones led Patterson with 15 points, while Deondre Skinner added 11.

In the loss to McDonogh 35, Skinner was tops with 12 points, while Nehemiah Augustus added 10.

Skinner and Daylon Charlot led Patterson with 13 points apiece against L.B. Landry.

Against Hancock, Skinner and Charlot led Patterson with 18 and 12 points, respectively.

Patterson (5-3) will return to action Friday when it travels to North Vermilion. Junior varsity boys action will begin at 5 p.m. followed by varsity girls and varsity boys’ play.

Morgan City plays in Lake Charles

Morgan City defeated Westlake but fell to O.P. Walker and Mansfield at the Barbe Holiday Hoops basketball tournament last week.

In its tournament opener, Morgan City fell to O.P. Walker, 62-51.

While both teams went into the half tied at 24, O.P. Walker outscored Morgan City 38-27 in the second half, including a 25-17 fourth-quarter advantage.

Jaylen Jones led Morgan City with 15 points, while Tyrin Watts added 13.

Other top Morgan City scorers included Buddy Humphrey, six; Taylor Brocato, five; and Brady Fryou and Malcolm Watkins, four each.

On Friday, Morgan City rebounded with a 45-30 victory against Westlake.

Morgan City used a big fourth quarter to seal the victory.

Leading 29-26 heading into the final period, Morgan City outscored Westlake, 16-4 in the fourth.

Watts led Morgan City with 26 points, while other top contributors included Eric Walker, Fryou and Watkins with four each and Jones with three.

On Saturday, Morgan City fell to Mansfield, 56-43.

While Morgan City took a 19-7 lead after a quarter of play, Mansfield fought their way back, outscoring Morgan City in the next three quarters.

By the end of the third quarter, Mansfield had a 35-28 advantage.

They outscored Morgan City 21-15 in the final period for the final.

Top Morgan City scorers included Watts with 29 points, while Brocato and Watkins each added four.

This weekend’s tournament was the second in as many weeks for Morgan City.

Earlier this month, Morgan City finished as runners up to Ellender in Ellender’s Patriot Classic.

The Tigers will continue their lengthy road swing when they return to action Jan. 3 on the road against West St. Mary. Freshmen will take the floor at 5 p.m. followed by junior varsity and varsity play.

Berwick defeats

Delcambre

Berwick defeated Delcambre on the road Thursday, 71-62.

No individual statistics were available from the contest.

On Friday, the Panthers fell to Erath, 52-42, in its District 9-3A opener. No individual stats were available from the contest.

Berwick will return to action Jan. 3 when it continues District 9-3A play with a short road trip to Patterson. Junior varsity is set for a 5 p.m. start, followed by girls’ and boys’ varsity contests.