By DAVID FOLSE II
Slidell sports writer
LAKE CHARLES—Legendary Salmen Head Coach Jay Carlin has seen a lot of things throughout his tenure.
Unfortunately for the leader of the Spartan program, he and his squad had to deal with a heartbreaking loss in the state championship game.
Keytaon’s Thompson’s put-back at the buzzer gave Landry-Walker a 37-35 victory over the top-seeded Spartans to win the 2015 Allstate Sugar Bowl LHSAA Class 4A State Title at Burton Coliseum.
“The basketball gods just were not smiling down on us tonight,” Carlin said.
After a Cameron Vickers free throw, the Spartans held a 35-32 lead with 2:17 left in the game.
Kahlil Williams’ 3-pointer tied the game at 35-35 with 1:42 and Salmen had the ball with a chance to win the game.
After Landry-Walker tied up Corey Vinson, Salmen was forced to inbound the ball and was unable to, turning it over to the Chargin’ Bucs.
Lamar Peters launched a half-court shot which hit off the backboard into the waiting arms of Thompson, who calmly put it in before time expired, clinching the 4A title.
“Our point guard went hard to the paint and two guys went at him and we unfortunately come out with a jump ball,” Carlin said. “It is what it is. We wanted to be aggressive and get to the hole or at least pitch it to the rim. After that, Landry-Walker made the play and we didn’t.”
A disappointed Cameron Vickers was still in disbelief in the post-game press conference.
“It hurts really badly,” Vickers said. “Especially since this was the last game with my brother (Chris). I wish it could have ended better. After we turned it over I saw Lamar (Peters) coming up with a 3-point attempt and I actually thought they had less time. Keytaon came out of nowhere and got the put back. We should have boxed out.”
Trailing 18-11 at the half, Landry-Walker opened the second half on a 7-0 run to tie the game at 18-18. Salmen immediately responded with back-to-back buckets by Vickers and Vinson to take back the lead at 22-18.
Landry-Walker took a brief 31-28 lead in the fourth quarter, but Salmen answered with a 6-0 run all via free throws to take the lead back at 34-31.
A low-scoring affair in the first half, Salmen led 10-6 after the first eight minutes and held Landry-Walker (22-10) to only five points in the second quarter. The story of the game in the first half was the Salmen defensive effort. Despite being out-rebounded 9-4 in the first-half, Salmen held the Chargin’ Bucs to only three made field goals on only 10 attempts.
“I’m proud of my guys and how they played,” Carlin said. “I’m proud of the way they competed. They put themselves in position to win the ballgame except the last 7-8 seconds of the ballgame. We talk about having to play every second of every minute. Our guys played their hearts out. We couldn’t ask for a better effort.”
Repeating as back-to-back state champions, Thompson was named Most Outstanding Player after scoring 11 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Kahlil Williams led Landry-Walker with 12 points.
Salmen (29-6) was led by Corey Vinson’s 12 points.