Prairie View 62, Franklin Academy 19
Clinching the MAIS District 5-2A title on Senior Night, Prairie View eased to a 62-19 verdict over Franklin Academy.
Besides winning their own game, the Spartans received an assist when Glenbrook beat River Oaks. Prairie View (10-7, 5-0) now holds a two-game lead over River Oaks with only one game remaining.
"It was Senior Night with a lot of distractions, but I was proud of the way we handled our business," Prairie View coach David Patrick said. "Everybody was able to get a lot of minutes and almost everybody scored."
Prairie View encountered minimal resistance against the Cougars (0-15, 0-6) Friday night.
Hunter Dear's rebound bucket opened the scoring, but the visitors' lead would be short-lived.
Alex Dupree's jumper from the lane triggered a string of 11 unanswered points. Five straight points by Tanner Caldwell, Alex Louizou's transition basket and Layton Woodard's deuce off of a Hunter Little assist closed out the run.
Leading 11-3 at the end of the opening period, the Spartans settled matters by scoring the first 19 points of the second quarter.
Prairie View went into recess with a 38-5 advantage, and the majority of the second half was played with a running clock.
Woodard topped the Spartans' score sheet with 18 points, followed by Layton Rainbolt with 10, Hayes Crockett with eight, Caldwell with seven, Louizou and Little with five, Dupree with four, Austin Harper with three and Kentrell Spencer with two.
FA received six points from Drake Davis, five from Wesley Gwin, four from Caleb Hill and two apiece from Dear and Ben Lockland.
Prairie View closes out the regular season with a trio of road games, starting with Tuesday night's tilt at Riverdale. The Spartans wrap up district play with a makeup game against River Oaks on Thursday before traveling to Lake Providence Briarfield on Friday.
"These are three really good games to prepare us for South State," Patrick said. "Riverdale is the defending Class A state champion. Briarfield is in the running for the district championship, and River Oaks is a rivalry game at their place."
As district champion, the Spartans receive a first-round by in the South State Tournament, scheduled for Feb. 12-17 at Minden Glenbrook. The top four teams at South State advance to the Class 2A State Tournament in Brookhaven, Mississippi.
Notes: Tanner Caldwell and Alex Dupree, Prairie View's normal senior starters, were joined in the first five by classmates Alex Louizou, Austin Harper and Jacob Walker for Friday night's game. Kentrell Spencer was also among the six Senior Night honorees. ... Hayes Crockett sat out the entire first half. ... Former Prairie View coach and athletic director Reagan Morrison attended Friday's games. ... Friday's game against Briarfield was originally scheduled as a Prairie View home game, but has been switched to Lake Providence.