Down to the wire

AMITE – Ville Platte High’s Shanicole Holland hit the biggest three-point basket in his life here Tuesday night.
With 38 seconds left on the clock, Holland drilled a deep ball from right in front of the Bulldog bench and Ville Platte held on to secure a heart pounding 49-48 win over the Amite Warriors in the regional round of the Class 3A playoffs.
With the win, the Bulldogs will now host Madison High School Friday night in the quarterfinals. I will be the first time Ville Platte makes it to the third round of the playoffs since 2013.
“When he (Holland) hit the three, I just kept thinking please don’t let them score,” stated a jubilant Ville Platte head coach Tommy Jones. “I am so proud of our guys. We knew coming in that they were very athletic and could jump out the gym. But, we just wanted to try and keep them off of the boards and contest their shots.”
Ville Platte did not seem intimated by the size and quickness of Amite to start the game. After going down 4-2 in the first three minutes of the contest, the Bulldogs righted the ship and went on a 6-0 run over the next 1:30. Two three-point baskets in the last three minutes allowed Ville Platte to hold a 14-7 advantage as the first quarter came to a close.
The second quarter began with a one for two showing at the free throw line by Amite and then an exchange of baskets from both teams. A bucket and a plus one for Amite made the score 18-13 in favor of the Bulldogs with 4:47 left to go in the period.
From that point on, neither team was able to gain an advantage. Amite was able to stay within five points of Ville Platte, 26-21, with two baskets in the last minute of the second period. As the horn sounded for halftime, the Bulldogs felt really good about their position.
“Going into halftime we felt all we needed to do was keep pounding the boards and keep hitting shots,” said Jones. “We just wanted to make sure we kept them from using their athleticism to get back into the game.”
But, Ville Platte could not do that in the third quarter, as the Warriors began to be more aggressive on the boards and started to control the rebounding advantage. After Holland hit a three-point shot to open the second half, Amite went on a 12-0 run to take a 33-29 lead with 3:30 left in the period.
The Bulldogs collected themselves quickly and was able to hold serve the rest of the quarter. Ville Platte managed to score the last four points of the stanza, with a two-point basket by Holland and two free throws from Ernest Robert, to pull within three points, 38-35.
It was Holland again that got things going for the Bulldogs in the final quarter when he hit a three-point bucket to tie the game for the first points of the period. From that point on the game see-sawed back and forth, with the greatest advantage for Amite being five points, 46-41, at the 4:13 mark.
Ville Platte got a three-point basket from Martin Jason and two single free throws to tie the game at 46-46 with only 2:52 left in the game.
The Warriors had two one and one opportunities over the next two minutes to take the lead, but could not hit on the front end on both chances. However, Amite struck with 56 seconds left in the contest on a two-point basket to go up 48-46.
On the next offensive possession, the Bulldogs worked the ball around the three-point circle looking to hit the last shot of the game. That is when Holland nailed what turned out to be the game winner.
“To be honest with you, we were looking for the last shot of the game,” commented Jones. “But, it just so happened that Shanicole felt comfortable with pulling the trigger. That was a huge basket, to say the least.”
Amite did have one last possession. The Warriors took several shots at the rim in the last 30 seconds, but could not drain the basket to win the game.
Holland led all Bulldog scorers with 27 points. Tyran Jones contributed seven points in the winning effort.