Proven and Guarded: Red-Hot No. 1 Calvary Baptist approaching playoffs with singular focus

by: William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor

Nearly two months have been torn off the team’s calendar since Calvary Baptist last lost a basketball game.

The Cavaliers reached the championship game in the Sunkist Shootout in Lafayette where they lost to host St. Thomas More 33-31. That capped a four-day stretch with three wins that included a 21-point win over reigning Division III select state champion Newman.

For a team riding a 13-game winning streak, it’s the juncture in the season Calvary (24-2) evolved into the kind of team coach Victor Morris believed had what it took to contend for this year’s state championship.

“We were there four days and played back-to-back every day,” said Morris, now in his ninth season. We had to bond on and off the court. We played some good games and some tough opponents. You can’t get a better environment for the St. Thomas More game with their fans, with how hard they play, and how disciplined they are. Even with us losing in that championship game something clicked when we came back home.”

Calvary returned for its final tournament of the regular season and went 4-0 in the Bossier Invitational. The Cavaliers had three straight wins over Class 5A teams Parkway, Evangel Christian, and Captain Shreve before blowing out host Bossier, 68-29.

Three days later, they left Class 5A power Ruston with a 65-50 triumph – part of the team’s current win streak that’s included the District 1-2A championship, defeating the competition by an average of more than 40 points. They conclude the regular season with a road game against Red River on Saturday and host Bossier on Feb. 22.

“Bossier was a big-time tournament,” Morris said. “We kind of just took off. We were 10 times better defensively, sharing the ball on the offensive end. Everyone was into it playing together. Things started to click. That was like a turning point for us to show what we could be, especially defensively. I feel like defense wins championships.”

Calvary is the state’s top-rated team in Division III select, a reflection of a team that’s played a schedule with better than 50% of its opponents from Class 3A and higher. 

A year after a sudden exit in the state playoffs – fourth-seeded Calvary was upset 63-59 by No. 13 Episcopal of Baton Rouge in the state regionals – Morris wasn’t about to leave any stones unturned when it came to preparing his team for the long haul.

“We learned a lot from our two losses,” Morris said. “I think it made us a better team. It’s part of the journey and the ultimate goal is to win a state championship. It helped us become more complete as a team and continue to grow.”

Creating a standard of success

Morris has tried to establish a hard-working philosophy within a program he took over nine years ago. His first team went 17-14 and lost in the opening round of the state playoffs.

Morris was just getting started. He touched off what’s become the standard for the program with the first of eight consecutive 20-win seasons that included four straight trips to the state championship game between 2020-23.

The Cavaliers have been knocking and want to knock down that door this season where the school has brought home 13 state titles in football, baseball, and softball. 

“We’re a school where we’ve got a lot of state championships in football, softball, baseball,” Morris said. “We want to be the next program to bring home the trophy.”

Morris has won 75% of his games (210-68) during his stay in Shreveport, elevating the profile of Calvary’s program to one of the state’s best. The Cavaliers have averaged 23.3 wins that before bowing out in last year’s second round, had advanced to at least the quarterfinals in six straight seasons – including four consecutive appearances in the state final in Divisions IV and III.

Calvary’s progressively inched closer to a state title, falling to Southern Lab (57-54) in 2022 and Newman (52-42) in ’23 in those respective state-title contests.

“Our culture is just built on work,” Morris said. “We say, ‘outwork everybody’. That’s every day. We come in and we want to work hard every single day whether it’s on the court or in the classroom. To really give a max effort. Over the course of the years, we had to start somewhere, and guys laid the foundation, and we just kept building on it.

“Kids in the program now, they’re accustomed to winning, playing in big tournaments, playing in big games,” Morris said. “It’s kind of a standard. If you want to play here at Calvary, you’ve got to work hard every day to get ready to play in the games against the best competition. It all started with us having to get ready as a program, and now it’s to the point where every year we’re playing to win a championship.”

Iron sharpens iron

Morris set up plenty of challenges for his team that’s won 24 of 26 games. 

Calvary won its first five games, including a one-point win over the No. 1 team in Division IV Select Crescent City, before falling to Hannan, the No. 2 team in Division II Select, 50-48, at the Madison Prep Tournament in Baton Rouge in early December.

The Cavaliers reeled off six straight wins with three of those taking place in the Sunkist Shootout where they handled Lafayette Christian (83-58), edged Vandebilt Catholic (61-60), and defeated Newman (49-28) to reach the final.

St. Thomas More, the reigning Division I select state runner-up and the No. 4 team this season, led 23-15 early in the third quarter when Calvary’s Tyrone Jamison – the nation’s No. 7 played according to Rivals – scored five points for a 31-30 lead.

The Cougars answered with a basket and free throw with less than a minute remaining to account for the final score.

That setback didn’t linger very long with Calvary heading to Bossier High, followed three days later by the trip to Ruston, the No. 6 team in Division I non-select.

The Cavaliers’ average margin of victory in the Bossier tournament was 33 points, and compounded by the road win over Ruston, bolstered the team’s confidence for a dominant showing with a 5-0 mark in district play.

“We approach them with the intent of what we need to work on and getting better,” Morris said of district play. “Just competing. My message to our guys was when you’re No. 1 in the state and have certain players that are ranked and schools (colleges) are looking at them, it’s a target on your back. No matter who you play you’re going to get that team’s best game. We focus on playing our hardest and executing our game plan every night.”

Well-rounded team that defends

The foundation of this year’s Calvary team revolves around the return of seniors Bubba Strong and Justin Houston. The Cavaliers have also had impressive performances from a sophomore class of Jamison, Jaiden Hall, and Robert Wright. 

“Bubba is a captain and has played varsity for four years,” Morris said. “He knows what’s expected. He’s a very important piece to the team.”

Strong’s part of a balanced offense, averaging 10.4 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 1.7 assists per game. 

Houston, a three-year letterman, cast quite a presence at 6-foot-10, giving the Cavaliers a low-post presence on offense and rim protector for a defense that allows 49 points per game.

“Justin’s started to develop into the player that he is,” Morris said. “He blocks shots and finishes around the rim. Those are guys that have opportunities to play at the next level. They’re important pieces to what we do.”

Morris can’t hide his enthusiasm watching Houston operate on the defensive end.

“It’s big time,” he said. “It allows us to do a lot more defensively, to push up and pressure guys at times. He makes it hard for the opposing team’s guards and ball handlers. At times if they get by you, you’re sitting there with a 6-10 down there.”

Jamison, a 6-2 point guard, leads the team with a 15-point average, 7 assists, 4 rebounds and 2 steals a game. The 6-foot Hall, a transfer, averages 10.5 points, 3 rebounds, and 2.6 assists, with Wright, a 6-3 forward, producing 10.1 points and 3.6 rebounds.

“T.J. is kind of like our engine that makes us go offensively and defensively. He controls the game,” Morris said of Jamison. “T.J.’s the leading scorer but we have four guys in double figures. We’ve got some pretty good balance throughout the team as far as scoring.

“We do a pretty good job of finding matchups that we like,” Morris said. “Sometimes it’s throwing it inside, sometimes our guards are playing off the dribble, or we’re running shooters off screens. We watch and see how guys defend, and we try and figure out what’s going to be to our advantage. We have some talented kids that can do a lot of different things. We’re going to work hard to be as versatile as possible.”

Single-minded approach

The jolting conclusion to the 2023-24 season still resonates with this year’s team.

Morris recently addressed his team concerning the upcoming postseason and turned the subject to focus.

Even though the Cavaliers may have been favored to challenge Newman for last year’s state championship, they were left in Shreveport wondering what may have been after their four-point setback to Episcopal, which advanced to the state semifinals against Newman.

“The biggest thing we got from that for the guys that are playing this year, no matter what your record or seed, every game you have play like it’s your last,” Morris said. “You can’t allow a team to come in and play harder than you. 

“You have to execute and do all of those things to win the game,” Morris said. “At that point in the season, anybody can win. It’s high school basketball. It’s still March Madness. All you have to do is be better than that person that day. We just can’t take things for granted. There’s no more tomorrow.”

A season’s worth of regular-season accomplishments, including key wins and a district championship, will soon give way to a two-week sprint toward the state tournament in Lake Charles and ultimately define this year’s team.

Morris said his club will take a singular approach, go game by game, instead of looking too far down the bracket.

“It’s one game … it’s survive and advance,” he said. “You’re only going to be as good as the game you’re playing. Take one game at a time, hopefully, we’ll end up in a situation where we have several home games. We’re not overlooking anyone we’re going to play. We learned that last year from Episcopal. Focus on the defensive end and then execute on offense.

“At this point, everybody’s watched film, everybody’s scouted,” he said. “It comes down to who wants it more. Who’s going to dive on the floor? It’s who’s going to play the hardest and do the little things that matter to winning games.”