Pirates attempt to right the ship versus David Thibodeaux

The ending of 2013 might be a welcome sight for the Kaplan Pirates basketball team.

The Pirates started the season out on a four game losing streak.

That streak was broken with two straight wins over Erath and North Vermilion to take home the Parish Tournament Champions trophy.

After winning the Parish Tournament, the Pirates have struggled.

Kaplan, in its last seven games, only managed to win two of those games. Of those five losses, two came most recently in the Yuletide tournament at the hands of Catholic N.I. and Ascension Episcopal.

“We just had a hard time scoring,” Kaplan Head Coach Jeff Davis said. “That has kind of been our problem all season long. We have a good team; we just have a hard time putting the ball in the hoop.”

Coach Davis went on to say that when his team is on and making their shots, they are just as good as any team out there.

“The problem is just being able to make our shots,” Davis said. “I’m not sure exactly what it is. I think it’s just basketball. We are in a bit of a slump, shooting wise, and we will shoot our way out of it.”

The Pirates look to get the ship set straight as it faces off against David Thibodeaux for the second time this season.

The first time these two teams faced off against each other, David Thibodeaux got the upper hand with a 53-48 victory.

However, this win came against a Kaplan team that was down some players.

The Pirates basketball team had not gotten all of the players back from the football team when this game took place, earlier this season.

“They (David Thibodeaux) are a good basketball team,” Davis said. “They are well coached and get good play from their guards. For us to win though it all comes down to making our shots.”

Along with making their shots, coach Davis did go on to say that rebounding is one of their biggest concerns as well.

“We have some big boys on our team,” Davis said. “Yet, somehow we get out rebounded all the time. That is one thing we have worked on in practice this past week, getting the offensive rebounds. If we can improve only
slightly on that, this is a different basketball team.”

If Kaplan is going to turn its 4-9 record around, it is going to need to see some improvement from its big three; Blake Touchet, Devantae Davis and Jalen Bates.

Touchet is the leading scorer and poses as the outside threat for the Pirates.

Davis is last season Parish leading scorer, and even though he hasn’t played badly, he hasn’t looked like the player that led the Parish in scoring.

Bates is not able to be the player he can be as his he is battling an ankle injury.

The Pirates will play host to David Thibodeaux tonight right after the JV game, which starts at 5:15 p.m.

After the Pirates play, the Lady Pirates will be hosting Jennings immediately after the Kaplan Boys are done playing.

Andy Bullard
Sports Editor