Bayou Border Battle: Tourney to bring in top recruits, teams
Published 8:00 am Wednesday, December 20, 2023
- Sulphur's West Navarre scored eight points on Nov. 28, 2023 to lead the Tors to a 35-28 win over St. Louis Catholic at the Legacy Center. (Rodrick Anderson / American Press)
Just in time for Christmas, the Bayou Border Battle will bring several top basketball recruits under one roof today and Thursday.
The tournament is put on by Sulphur High School and will be played at McNeese State’s Legacy Center with games starting today at noon and 10:30 a.m. on Thursday.
“What we want is to generate some excitement about the sport of basketball in our area,” Sulphur head coach Adam Coleman said. “We thought this was a great way to do that.
“They (Texas) are very rich in talent over there, and we feel like we have a great showcase of teams and talent in our state. We wanted to match those two states together and get some teams that fans are accustomed to seeing at the state tournament. We think it is great for Southwest Louisiana.
“We have heard from quite a few fans from across the state who plan to come. The second thing that drives us to do this is the experience for these players. They get to play in a facility and feel like a Division I player for a night. Anytime we can provide an experience for our players to have a special night is what drives us as coaches.”
The premier game will be the final one on Thursday between Beaumont United (Tx.) and Isidore Newman out of New Orleans.
Newman has one of the top juniors in the state in 6-10 center Christopher Cenac, who is ranked in the top 40 in the nation by Rivals.com and is being recruited by the University of Houston, Ole Miss, LSU and Memphis, plus senior 6-8 power forward Todd Jones, a 3-star recruit.
Beaumont United won back-to-back Class 5A state championships in 2021 and 2022 and was the runner-up last season. The Timberwolves are ranked No. 23 in the nation by Maxpreps.com and have a highly recruited senior small forward in Clarence Payia (6-5, 180) plus senior Kayde Dotson.
The Greenies won back-to-back Select Division III state championships but a recent ruling by the Louisiana Athletic Association found them in violation of recruiting rules. Newman was forced to forfeit both state titles, all wins over the last three seasons and head coach Randy Livingston was suspended for a calendar year. Also, the Greenies are ineligible for the postseason.
Top in-state teams in the tournament include the top team in the Nonselect Division II and Select Division II power rankings in Iowa and Madison Prep respectively, plus the No. 6 team in Select Division II in Peabody (8-2) and Nonselect Division I Sulphur (7-2)
Iowa (8-1) will face Port Arthur Memorial (10-5) today at 4:30 p.m., Sulphur takes on East Chambers at 6 p.m., while Madison Prep will face Dickinson at 7:30 p.m. Peabody will be matched up with Hardin Jefferson (10-8) at 3 p.m.
Select Division II No. 6 Peabody (8-2),
According to Preps Hoops, several top Class of 2024 recruits out of Texas will be at the tournament in Dotson (Beaumont United), Ashton Simmons (West Brook) and Cameron Patterson (Summer Creek). Top seniors from Louisiana to watch include Jones (Newman), Jayce Depron (Madison Prep), Jordan Mathews (Peabody), Dashawn Ceaser (Iowa), Quentin Dabney (Madison Prep) and Desa’monte Gradney (Iowa).
