Donaldsonville pulled back even in the open seconds of the fourth quarter and once again had its packed home gymnasium, loud all night, roaring to new heights.
Not only did Rayville not flinch, coach Adrian Hester said the tense moment in hostile territory was exactly the type of moment his team was built for.
The No. 14 Hornets (22-12) rattled off an 11-2 run, continued deflating the No. 3 Tigers (15-6) down the stretch and — with a strong traveling contingent of family and fans — ultimately celebrated a 64-55 victory to advance to the Division-III Non-Select quarterfinals.
“I think this game was won during our schedule,” Hester said. “If you look at it, we played one of the toughest schedules in Louisiana, and I think that set the tone that we knew we could come in here and do this big tonight … They want this bad, and they know what it takes. And like I said, we’ve been through some storms this year. And we felt like we shouldn’t have been a 14-seed. We just had some top seeds that we lost to be one or two points. So tonight all that was worth it.”
Senior forward Jayden Stephenson drained a 3-pointer for his first points of the game and squared up for another in transition just seconds later before instead seeing and hitting junior guard Xavier Wilson streaking to the basket for two.
Wilson stole the ball and went right back to the rack for another score, plus a foul.
When Donaldsonville finally answered with a driving bucket of its own, Stephenson countered with another 3 on the other end.
“When I was coming off the bench, coach Hester told me, he said, ‘Two 3’s will put ’em away,'” Stephenson said. “Last game, I had a good game. I felt very confident. And I just know I put the work in, so when I shoot ’em, whether they fall or not, I’m gonna keep shooting ’em. And I feel like my team needs me to shoot, so that’s what I’m gonna do.”
The Tigers continued battling, but with the moment spiraling further from their grasp and the Hornets beginning to sense the proverbial blood in the water.
Sophomore wing Landon Wilson, who led Rayville with 17 points, hit his fourth 3-pointer of the night — a timely dagger just as a couple prior had been.
“It’s very big,” he said of timely shots and loose-ball hustle plays to to help slow Donaldsonville rallies. “We work on that every day. I knew I had to dive on the floor to get the ball, because those are winning plays that showed up in the end.”
And sophomore wing Nolan Foster came away with a steal in the far corner of the court, pushed the ball ahead to senior forward Deveyoun Johnson and took off bolting to eventual catch the return pass slicing to a finish at the rim.
“We never really responded,” Donaldsonville coach Lionel Gilbert said. “And we had opportunities to respond. We got stops, and when we got the stops that we needed, we didn’t convert. We didn’t convert some layups. We didn’t convert on that end, and we turned the ball over. They kind of frustrated our guards at times and took us out of our action that we thought would be best to attack ’em. They really did a good job pressuring our guards and dictating and taking us out of our offense. And we started kind of withering away mentally. We didn’t show the mental capacity to take care of business tonight.”
Rayville snatched at least nine steals — led by Foster, Xavier Wilson and junior point guard Jaydon Johnson — and forced several other turnovers.
The Tigers could never cut the margin back any closer than nine points and, increasingly frustrated down the stretch, drew a pair of technical fouls that only further hurt their potential comeback hopes.
“I don’t even think it was the pressure of Rayville (that most caused the frustration),” Gilbert said. “I think it was the pressure of some seniors understanding that, ‘Hey, it’s win or go home.’ I just think the dynamics of the game got the best of us when they’re staring to realize that, ‘Hey, if we don’t get it done, it’s my last time putting that jersey on.’ Those guys have truly accomplished a lot. As I told them before the game and all week: Whether we win another game or win, lose or draw, I’m very proud of the mark that they’ve left. I feel like they did leave the program better than what they found it.”
Donaldsonville had come out on fire with a 14-3 start, highlighted by the hustle and physicality of senior multisport standouts Quinnton Dabney and Jaden Allen.
But Rayville answered with a 7-0 spurt, eventually received another nice boost on a buzzer-beating three-point play by Johnson and then took control in the second quarter, nearly doubling the Tigers up to take a 34-30 halftime lead.
Donaldsonville’s anxiousness visibly mounted in the third quarter as several high-percentage looks in the lane rimmed out and slowed their rally.
And when the Tigers finally did draw back even on their first possession of the fourth quarter, the Hornets swung back as strongly as ever with a flurry of 3-pointers and takeaways.
“Cutting the gaps, taking the guards away, me putting pressure on (their point guard) and getting him frustrated and taking him out the game,” Johnson said. “That just made the game way easier, and we just shut ’em down.”
Johnson, a spark on both ends of the court, finished with 12 points, three rebounds, two assists and at least two steals.
Landon Wilson led both the Hornets’ offense with 17 points, including 4-for-8 shooting from deep, and rebounds efforts with seven boards against the bigger Tigers frontcourt.
“Our coach told us: We rebound, we win,” he said. “And it showed.”
Dabney finished his Donaldsonville career with another big night of 23 points, 13 rebounds, two steals and countless other plays he kept alive for his Tigers or disrupted for the Hornets with his hustle.
And sophomore forward Skyler Garrison added 10 points, five rebounds, a blocked shot and a steal.
“(Dabney) was all over the place, man,” Gilbert said. “That’s one of those seniors. He laid it on the line, and that’s what he’s been doing all season, man. That’s about his mark. He’s about a 26-point a game guy. We just fell a little short.”
Rayville will next visit No. 11 Green Oaks (15-14), which upset No. 6 Red River (22-11) on Tuesday, 54-47.
The Hornets are back in the quarterfinals for the first time since 2023, the last of a nine-year streak that included 2018 and 2019 state championships.
“As a coach, I won three state championships with the Simsboro program,” Hester said. “I’ve been a part of this. I’ve been there before. And Lake Charles is the goal. From the time we hit the track running miles to the time now, this is what we’re after.”
Added Johnson: “I feel like our team is playing very well. We’re playing as a team, moving the ball, and our chemistry’s on a whole nother level, and nobody can match that. So we’re gonna get to Lake Charles — no doubt.”