Hamilton Christian's Malachi Evans shoots over Central Catholic's Vernon Singleton during a Division IV quarterfinal game on Feb. 26 at Hamilton Christian Academy. (Rodrick Anderson / American Press)

Head coach Dexter Washington saw something different in his team in a two-point loss to Class 1A No. 1 North Central two weeks ago and said he hopes to see it again at the state basketball tournament at the Cajundome in Lafayette.

The fourth-ranked Warriors face No. 1 Southern Lab at 2 p.m. today in the Division IV semifinals.

“After we left North Central, we came out with a whole different mind-set,” Washington said. “I had not seen the kids play like that all season. They were shooting to dethrone somebody.

“Southern Lab is the No. 1 team that probably everyone picked to win a state championship. We have something that we have to go chase. People may think we can’t beat Southern Lab, my kids don’t think that.”

Southern Lab Kittens (27-4) have won 15 state championships, the last in 2005, while the Warriors (21-8) are looking for the first in their fifth state tournament appearance in six seasons.

The other semifinal will see No. 2 Calvary Baptist (23-7) and No. 3 Metairie Park Country Day (20-10) tip off at 4 p.m.

“Our guys are actually feeling really good about it,” Washington said. “We knew going into the season, as the power points started to materialize, we knew there were five teams that had the capabilities of the state championship, Central Catholic included.

“We knew we had just as good a chance as anyone else. I still feel like we have some great basketball players and Southern Lab, Country and Calvary have some too.”

Hamilton won the rebound battle in the quarterfinals to knockout Central Catholic but will have to contend with junior 6-foot-7 small forward Tyler Ringgold, who has multiple Division I offers. The Warriors will look to Derrick Williams to provide a spark off the bench.

“They rebound real well and they are very physical,” Washington said. “Of course, they have Tyler Ringgold, which is Coach (Harold) Boudreaux’s son, who is a pretty good inside physical threat.”

Boudreaux played three (1989-92) seasons at LSU.

“We have to figure out a way to neutralize (Ringgold) or stop the rest of the people and let him get his,” Washington said. “I do know one thing: we can’t get outrebounded. If we do, we will never beat them.

“When Derrick is in the game, it changes everything. It changes our team’s morale and intensity. Everyone wants to play to his emotions. He is not afraid to battle with anybody. He has a very high basketball IQ.”

Washington said the Warriors will need contributions from the whole roster.

“We are going to need a team effort,” he said. “We need the big three (Deion Ware, Mason Russell, Elijah Belton) to really put on, but what we really need is Malachi (Evans) to step up in this game because they (the Kittens) are not counting on him.

“(Evans) needs to become an intimidating force. If that happens, I think we can win the game. We need those three guys to keep up. We can’t have them have a bad game on the offensive side.”