Photo: Beau Chene boys’ basketball coach Chris Charlot speaks to his team during a second half timeout on Monday night.
BOBBY ARDOIN
Contributing Writer
The Beau Chene boys’ basketball team is entering the Class 4A quarterfinal playoff round with an exclamation point and a question mark.
Give the Gators exclamatory credit for advancing to a third round for the first time under head coach Chris Charlot.
However in order for the Gators to continue further, there is the question whether Beau Chene senior guard Titus Thomas finishes the season at all.
Thomas, who scored a game-high 28 points in the 75-63 Beau Chene home court victory over Northside-Lafayette Tuesday night, injured his arm after being fouled while he attempted a fourth quarter breakaway dunk with two minutes and eight seconds remaining.
Charlot said further examination will determine the seriousness of Thomas’ injury and whether he will be available Friday when Beau Chene travels to meet No. 4 Huntington of Shreveport.
“Right now it’s either a sprain or a break. I’m optimistic and hoping it’s a sprain. It’s hard to replace a guy who finished this game with a triple double (28 points, 16 rebounds, 10 assists and five steals),” Charlot said following the win.
Thomas has teamed with senior De’vondrake Arvie this year to provide the Gators’ (27-6) with a scoring tandem that produces over 50 points a game.
If Thomas is not in the back court with Arvie, Charlot said the Gators will determine an alternate combination.
A win in Shreveport Friday night would give Beau Chene the school’s first boys’ Top 28 Tournament appearance since 1993, said Charlot.
Arvie scored 21 points, while Cam’Ron Pierre added several second half baskets to finish with 13.
Charlot thought the Gators won the game with a first half performance that created a 19-point lead at intermission.
Northside made only one of 12 field goal attempts in the first quarter and the Gators led by as many as 23 points with seconds remaining before halftime.
“What we did in the first half gave us enough of a cushion to offset the run Northside made in the second half. We used our defense made (Northside) miss shots and we had great rebounding early on,” said Charlot.
The Vikings outscored Beau Chene 38-31 during the second half. Northside cut the Gators’ advantage to seven points (61-54) with four minutes left in the game.
Following a Beau Chene timeout, Thomas ignited a 6-0 run which enabled the Gators to permanently diffuse the Northside momentum.
