Back where they belong: No. 7 East Ascension rebounds from season without postseason play to host first round game
by: William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor
The summer of discontent for East Ascension’s basketball team had taken shape during an injury-filled 2023-24 season that resulted in all five starters missing playing time.
The final game of the year only added to the aggravation.
East Ascension, which was 5-11 after Jan. 1, positioned itself for the District 5-5A title, winning all four league games going into the season finale with an all-or-nothing proposition. The Spartans, rated near the cutoff for inclusion in the Division I non-select state playoffs, had their season come to a close with a 63-52 loss to Walker.
“We knew that wasn’t an indication of our team,” said EA’s coach Troy Green, in his 3rd season at the school and 24th overall. “We had a tough schedule with a stretch where we played Wossman, Madison Prep, West Monroe, Scotlandville. You name it, we played them last year, during a time we were missing those main guys. We didn’t complain. We just went through what we went through.”
EA, though, never forgot the pain associated with a season that doesn’t produce postseason memories.
With the great majority of that team returning, including a staggering 10 seniors, the Spartans returned with a vengeance with a District 5-5A title and a home game in the first round of Friday’s state playoffs.
No. 7 EA (24-4) will put its 11-game winning streak on the line against No. 26 Barbe (13-14) at 6 p.m.
“There was always that bad taste in our mouths from missing the playoffs last year and that’s what is fueling us,” said Green, who guided White Castle to consecutive Class 1A state titles in 2017-18.
EA won its first 11 games this season until an 11-point setback to Catholic High of Baton Rouge. The Spartans endured their leanest part of the season – dropping three straight games with setbacks to University High and Dunham after the game with Catholic – before setting sail on the program’s best season since a 30-7 finish and state semifinals in 2016.
Since a second loss (61-50) at Catholic High, EA hasn’t lost again. The Spartans won a rematch, 53-52, with U-High, and went unblemished in league play, surviving a couple of close calls.
A 65-60 triumph over Denham Springs enabled EA to begin district play on a positive note. The Spartans also thrived in tight quarters with wins over Live Oak (48-46) and St. Amant (48-46), the latter of which was sealed on Tyrone Wenzy’s reverse layup.
EA had an average margin of victory of 22.6 points across its final five games.
“That comes with experience,” Green said. “These kids don’t get rattled. They do a pretty good job of not getting out of themselves and just play to the system. Bad things may happen, and they don’t lose their composure. We try to cover everything for every situation that may happen. You don’t lose your composure; you try and execute in that situation and that’s something that comes with experience. They’ve been there before.
“A lot of times you want to go through those stretches because they’re going to come,” Green said. “What we try to do is learn from those losses. There’s a reason why it happened. We just try to watch film and go back to what we didn’t do well and try and improve on it. We understand it’s part of a season. It’s like a marathon and the goal is to try and play our best basketball at the end of the season and I think we are right now.”
EA features one of the state’s biggest teams in the state with the combination of junior forward Brysten Martinez and senior center LeBron Napoleon.
Martinez, a recent LSU football commitment, is a 6-foot-7, 280-pounder who leads the team in scoring with a 15-point average and eight rebounds in district play. Napoleon, a 6-9 reserve center, scores 8 points and grabs 7 rebounds, blocks 2 shots, and hands out four assists a game.
“The size makes us go,” Green said. “We’re an unconventional team. We’re not that five-out team. We have two guys that put their backs to the basket like the old school days. It’s smart and you play to your advantages. These guys complement each other and they’re looking inside. We go through the post first.”
To illustrate the shortcomings of last year’s team Martinez played approximately half of the season because of injuries and Napoleon didn’t play at all.
They’ll just be part of what makes EA an intriguing team.
The Spartans have a pair of football players at the guard positions with senior Deron McZeal (14 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists) and Lathan Dumas (8 points, 6 rebounds, 3 steals).
“Deron’s the quarterback of the team,” Green said. “He makes all of the calls. Lathan is another football guy that’s tough and usually guards the best player on the other team. They’re seniors and they are tough. They don’t get rattled.”
The Spartans also have a senior presence with Wenzy (8 points, 4 rebounds) at guard, while senior guard Trenton Palmer is providing relief off the bench after spot starting since his sophomore season.
The one non-senior in the team’s starting lineup is sophomore Dwayne Mitchell, a 6-3 forward, who averaged 5 points and 4 rebounds in district play.
“You can tell the chemistry’s there,” Green said. “Before I got here a lot of these guys played travel ball or middle school against each other or with each other. They’ve been knowing each other for the most part.
“Dwayne Mitchell’s been steady all year,” Green said. “Palmer has come on strong as of late and is the sharpshooter in the group. Wenzy kind of does everything for us inside out. Everyone has their own unique role within the team. Once we started understanding that it’s not just one man that’s valuable, that everybody has their own role. Do your job and that’s what makes a team.”
Green took over EA’s program for the 2022-23 season following a successful nine-year run at White Castle. He immediately noticed a talented group of sophomores he envisioned having plenty of success over the course of their careers.
Green tried to facilitate the process, giving those sophomores an abundance of playing time, with a handsome payoff expected in the not-too-distant future.
That group played a part in helping EA nearly spring an upset of top-seeded New Iberia in the regional round of the playoffs that season. The Spartans had the ball and a one-point with 12 seconds to play, but instead of advancing to the quarterfinals, the home-standing Yellow Jackets came up with a steal and basket at the buzzer for a 36-35 victory and eventually lost in the state championship game.
“These seniors were 10th graders when I got here,” Green said. “I played them a lot, just envisioning this day would come. There’s always a thin line between playing those young guys and I’m trying to do the same thing this year and start a 10th grader.
“I talked to them about that Tuesday,” Green said of the loss to New Iberia. “Don’t take it for granted. That’s a mindset. That’s every day you have to remember that feeling that you had. You’ve got to remember that nothing’s promised.”
A first-round win would enable EA to host the Southside-Terrebonne winner in next week’s regional round with a successful outcome sending the Spartans to the quarterfinals for the first time in nine years.
“I think the kids believe they can do it,” Green said. “Our mindset is not about a run or what’s been done in the past. We’re just taking it one game at a time. Who’s the next opponent, what’s the scouting report on them? I don’t look at the big picture right now and we don’t even talk about that. We’re taking it one game at a time.”
Featured Image Courtesy: Naomi Garcia