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Photograph: Lorenzo and Alphonso Williams (Photograph by Bobby Ardoin.)

BOBBY ARDOIN
Editor/Consulting Writer

The conversation at the Williams’ family gathering might become a bit more engaging this Sunday, now that a much-anticipated basketball game involving the three Williams brothers has been decided.

For nearly two hours Wednesday night however family members were potentially divided in their emotions, as Opelousas High boys’ basketball coach Lorenzo Williams hosted a District 6-4A game against a Cecilia High team coached brothers Alphonso and Donovan Williams.

After years of coaching together, was the first time that Alphonso Williams and Lorenzo Williams had matched their teams against one another.

What also made the game unique, the siblings said after the 63-38 Opelousas High win, was that in the past, all three brothers were normally coaching as strategists for the same team, rather than attempting to out-guess one another with defenses and offensive sets.

All three played high school basketball at Cecilia and each of the Williams brothers at different times continued their careers at UL-Lafayette.

“This was really a big game for the family. We had parents, aunts, uncles, cousins and people who know us attending this game and were interested to see what would happen. What’s going to be more interesting when we all get together again on Sunday remains to be seen,” said Alphonso Williams.

The current coaching situation for both teams couldn’t be more different.

Lorenzo Williams has Opelousas 2-0 in district games and his Tigers are being considered as a team that could win another league title.

Cecilia is rebuilding under Alphonso Williams, who is assisted by brother Donovan Williams.

Alphonso Williams is attempting to reestablish a basketball tradition at the school. It’s also the first head coaching job for Williams, who previously worked in oilfield-related businesses and assisted brother Lorenzo Williams at Beau Chene and Opelousas.

Lorenzo Williams compared the flow of the game to a chess match, with all three brothers aware of what moves the other would make.

“We both came out got after each other.  It was hard to make adjustments, because Alphonso knew what adjustments I was going to make and I knew what he was going to do, so you had to readjust. For years we had been working together, running the same plays, using the same defenses under similar situations,” said Lorenzo Williams.

Each of the coaches attempted some scorebook drama, as Alphonso Williams did not list the names of his players, only numbers.

“Yeah, and we both switched the jersey numbers for some of our players to make it more confusing. I knew coming in that this was going to be a game. For the past 15 years or so, it’s always been Lorenzo, Alphonso and Donovan on the same staff, so you knew all of us were going to be up for this,” said Lorenzo Williams.

Alphonso said despite the competitive aspect, the game which was tied at seven early in the first quarter, was what he described as a blessing.

“It’s one of the best experiences that I could have had. Lorenzo is the middle brother and I taught him how to play the game hard and how to scheme. He hasn’t received enough credit for all that he has done for the programs that he has coached,” said Alphonso Williams.