Ville Platte, Mamou open play at Raider Holiday Tournament

PRAIRIE RHONDE -- Every year at this time the Northwest Raider Holiday Tournament begins in full force with high schools from around the state coming to lay claim to the championship title.
Two of those high schools, Ville Platte and Mamou, are invited to play every year and the Bulldog and Demon basketball squads take full advantage of being able to play against some of the toughest competition around.
Play in the tournament began on Monday and will conclude today, with both the consolation finals and the championship finals closing out the tourney.
The Gazette will have coverage of those games in Sunday’s edition if any of the parish teams get into those final games.
The Ville Platte boys did not know if they were going to have a first round game, as Beau Chene High School looked like they were going to drop out at the last minute.
However, the Gators decided to play and faced off against the Bulldogs on Monday afternoon. For Ville Platte, it really did not matter that Beau Chene decided to play at the last minute, as the Bulldogs stymied the Gators 61-54.
It was a tight ballgame for the two squads, as the Bulldogs trailed 15-12 at the end of the first quarter and 28-26 at halftime.
However, the third quarter proved to be the difference, as Ville Platte netted 11 more points than Beau Chene to take over the lead.
Ville Platte closed out the game in the fourth period scoring 17 points. Tyran Jones led all Bulldog players with 17 points of his own.
Mamou High also faced competition on Monday. The Demons were pitted up against the Lagrange Gators out of Class 4A.
Unfortunately, Mamou was unable to muster much offense, as the Demons fell 58-33 to the Gators.
The Demons were held to single digits in every quarter but the first. Mamou’s Tralon Arvie and Lil’ Paul Williams each chipped in 10 points for Mamou in the loss.
In girl’s action, the Ville Platte Lady Bulldogs squared off against a team they had defeated earlier in the season, the Lakeview Lady Gators.
This time Lakeview extracted some revenge, as they edged the Lady Bulldogs, 45-40.
Ville Platte’s lack of offense in the first quarter set them back early in the game, as Lakeview outscored the Lady Bulldogs 11-4 to start the game.
Ville Platte did managed to crawl back into decent position, as they only trailed 26-15 at the half.
The third quarter was very productive for the Lady Bulldogs, scoring 13 points and holding the Lady Gators to only three points.
But, it was still not enough, as Lakeview outpaced Ville Platte 16-12 in the final quarter to close out the win.
Tyreonna Doucet knocked down 18 points to lead Ville Platte.