LAKE CHARLES – Peabody grabbed control of Saturday’s Division II Select title game from the opening tip and never let go.
After a dominating performance, the Warhorses grabbed ahold of their 11TH state championship trophy, including their second in the past three seasons.
Peabody raced to a 10-2 lead and never trailed on its way to defeating Northside 82-61. The Warhorses (31-2) led by 11 points at the half as by as many as 25 in the second half. Senior Devontre Sword was one of four Warhorses to score in double figures, leading the way with 20 points on his way to being named the game’s Most Outstanding Player.
Sword began his career at Peabody before spending the past two years in Texas. He returned home for his senior season with one goal – to win a state championship with the Warhorses.
“I knew I had to win state because I wasn’t coming down here for nothing,” Sword said. “My mom went there. My whole family went to Peabody, so I had to come back home.”
Smith said Sword immediately fit in with the Warhorses and provided valuable senior leadership for “the youngest team I’ve ever brought” to the LHSAA’s Marsh Madness.
“He stepped right in and hasn’t missed a beat,” Smith said. “The tough coaching, the tough love, he fell right into it.”
Just as he did in the Warhorses’ semifinal victory over Washington-Marion, Sword started hot, assisting on a Corey Blake Jr. 3-pointer to open the scoring and following with a 3-pointer of his own. Sword scored 11 of his 20 points in the first half.
“Him being a senior, I knew that he would be relaxed,” Smith said, “and by him being relaxed, the younger guys kind of fed into that. … He was the key for us in the semis, and he was the key for us today by getting us started.”
Saturday was the third meeting between the two teams this season, and just as they had the two prior matchups, the Warhorses left little doubt as to who was the superior team. Peabody defeated Northside 78-39 on Dec. 27 at the St. Martinville Tournament and then again 80-56 on Jan. 13 at home.
The Vikings (24-14) put up a better fight in the third matchup, but Peabody’s championship was never in question.
After Sword turned a turnover into a fastbreak layup, Peabody led 10-2 midway through the first quarter. Northside clawed its way back into the game, however, and a 3-pointer by junior Jayden Jones cut the lead to two.
Senior Mario Alexander’s bucket in the final minute of the first period left the Vikings trailing 14-12 after one.
Peabody opened the second quarter on a 9-0 run, which included a Sword 3 in transition and two buckets by sophomore big man Brayden Durant, and soon the lead was double digits.
Sword’s third 3-pointer of the game just over two minutes into the second quarter pushed Peabody’s lead to 26-14, and the lead ballooned to 15 on a Blake Anderson 3 with just over three minutes left in the first half.
Peabody senior Devontre Sword (5) scored a team-high 20 points and was named Most Outstanding Player during the Warhorses’ 82-61 win over Northside in the Division II Select state championship game on Saturday. (Photo: Bret H. McCormick, One T Photography)
Although the Vikings cut the deficit to 11 at the half, they never were able to get it back to single digits as Peabody outscored Northside 30-21 in third period to take a 20-point lead into the fourth quarter.
Blake, the Warhorses’ phenomenal freshman who led the team in scoring with 15 points per game on the season, scored 12 of his 16 points in the third quarter. He hit a dagger corner 3-pointer with just three seconds left in the third to push the Warhorses’ lead back to 20 when Northside seemed to have grabbed some momentum.
“Every game we’ve played this year have been close ball games in the first and second quarter,” Smith said. “But for some reason or another, we tend to pull away in the third quarter. We usually distance ourselves in the third quarter. I think because of the conditioning of these guys and the mindset, they kind of study the game in the first half and then we make adjustments at halftime.”
In addition to Sword’s and Blake’s scoring, Peabody also got double-digit contributions from senior Malachi Anderson, who finished with 13 points and 13 rebounds, and junior Connor Rosenthal, who had 10 points and four assists.
Peabody shot a scorching 54 percent from the field in the game and made 8 of 19 3-point attempts. The Warhorses had 17 assists on their 30 made field goals and outrebounded Northside 39-30.
Northside junior guard Jaydon Francis scored a game-high 25 points, but he made just 1 of 10 3-pointers, as the Vikings struggled from the field, shooting just 36 percent from the field. Jones added 11 points as the Vikings’ only other double-figure scorer.
