In a battle of the undefeated, Lights Out defeated D-Unit 53-47 to claim the men’s intramural basketball championship Friday night in Stopher Gym.
With the victory, Lights Out claimed their first championship and remained undefeated for the season.
“It is the greatest feeling in the world. Nobody even thought we would have gone undefeated, and everybody wanted to count us out,” Lights Out guard Brandon Savage, freshman from Marrero, said.
After falling to the Raw Dawgs in last years’ intramural final, D-Unit thought a second trip to the championship would be a charm.
“It is the second year in a row we made it to the championship game and lost. We played hard, but we had a couple of key turnovers that caused us the game,” D-Unit center Louis Leonard, general studies sophomore from Patterson, said.
“I thought we were going to win this game, but it didn’t come out the way we wanted it too. We just missed three-point shot and didn’t play any defense. They made their shots,” D-Unit guard Quincy Jones, accounting junior from Lafayette, said.
In the first half, Lights Out shot four for four from the three-point line to take a commanding 38-17 lead at halftime.
Defensively in the first half, Lights Out held D-Unit to 36 percent shooting from the field and zero for five from the three-point line with five turnovers.
“I have been telling everybody the whole season that defense wins championships,” Savage said.
“We couldn’t get our offense together. They did a good job on defense,” D-Unit forward Kerwin Jones, math sophomore from Patterson, said.
In the second half, D-Unit went on a 10-2 run to take a 29-28 lead with 15:17 left to play in the game.
With D-Unit leading 34-44 with eight minutes left in the game, Lights Out went on a 24-13 run to seal the championship.
“The game of basketball is a game of runs, and basically we had more offensive runs than they did. That is what we did, and that is the reason why we got the victory,” Lights Out coach Jeremiah Bush, general studies sophomore from Harvey, said.
For the game, Lights Out shot 50 percent from the three-point line, 38 percent from the field and 61 percent from the free-throw line. They committed nine turnovers and out-rebounded the D-Unit 28-27.
D-Unit shot 37 percent from the field, 27 percent from the three-point line and 25 percent from the free-throw line with seven turnovers on the night.
Lights Out were led offensively by Savage and guard Paul Snowden, computer information systems sophomore from Harvey, who scored 15 points each. Frederick Brooks, criminal justice sophomore from New Orleans, scored eight, Mark Singleton, freshman from Ama and Travis McCloud, arts freshman from Marrero, scored five, Keith Curry, general studies junior from Hickory, Miss., scored four and Donald Fuselier, health and physical education freshman from New Iberia, scored three.
D-Unit was led offensively by Leonard, who scored 10 points. Kerwin Jones, Derrick Grear, accounting senior from Marrero and Jared Burrell, computer information system junior from Morgan City, scored seven each. Larry Smith, computer information systems sophomore from LaPlace, scored six, James Butler, general studies sophomore from Kenner, scored four and Quincy Jones scored two.
Lights Out said their bench was beneficial in clinching the championship against D-Unit.
“We had offense all over tonight. Everybody on the bench came through and they did all they could to help us get the win,” Snowden said.
Despite the defeat, D-Unit will join the Lights Out in the state tournament April 25-27 at the University of Louisiana-Monroe in Monroe. Both teams’ said they would add more depth and power to their rosters before state competition.
“We are going to pick up a few more players. We competed last year, and we came out fourth or fifth in state. We will come back and be ready,” Leonard said.
“We are going to try to pickup a few more big men because that way we can get our post game working. We are just going to represent Nicholls State University to the fullest,” Bush said.