Evans hopes to lead Wildcats back to Top 28

The Abbeville Wildcats started the season losing their first seven games, but have won 7 of 8 since, because of team cohesion and the stellar play of point guard Drevian Evans.
Evans, a senior, transferred to Abbeville High from Lighthouse Christian Preparatory Academy before his final year of high school. He attended Abbeville his freshman year, but was dismissed from the team.
The point guard’s fire and passion to play basketball is evident from the tipoff of every game he competes in.
“Growing up without a father, I always played with anger in my heart,” Evans said. “Going into my eighth-grade year, one of my coaches became a father figure in my life, and he helped me transfer that anger into passion on the court.”
After his dismissal from Abbeville’s team as a freshman, Evans went on to start at Lighthouse for two years, leading them to back-to-back state championship appearances, and one state title.
Once the team won the title, Evans said he thought it was time to go back to the place where he started his high school career.
“At first I was nervous to come back,” he said. “After we won state at Lighthouse, I felt that I had fulfilled the reason why I went there, and I told coach Ham (Hamilton) I was coming back.”
As a point guard, it is necessary to be an extension of the head coach on the floor, and that is something that both Evans and head coach Berwick Hamilton (coach Ham) are aware of.
“It’s always nice to have someone that is an extension of you on the floor,” Hamilton said in an interview earlier this season. “Dre (Evans) makes good decisions and helps me out as a coach.”
“I have to be an extension of the coach on the court,” Evans said. “Coach Ham is like another father figure in my life.”
Evans said he prides himself on distributing the ball. In a game last month, he broke the school record for assists in the game with 14. He said he models his game after a Chris Paul from the Los Angeles Clippers, with a combination of another star point guard.
“I love to distribute the ball and take over in clutch moments,” Evans said. “I like to keep my teammates happy because when we are winning, everything is all good. I think I pass the ball like Chris Paul, but I play with the aggression of Russell Westbrook.”
Evans started playing basketball in the fifth grade, and said that he didn’t fall in love with it until the seventh grade.
“I was a bad kid who was always getting into trouble,” he said. “My grandma said that I needed something that could keep me out of trouble. I tried football. I played football for a little while, but I really fell in love with basketball.”
Halfway through his senior season, Evans has not been offered a scholarship to play anywhere, but he has received interest from TCU, LSU and other junior colleges.
However, the school he would most like to attend, is one that is not exactly known as a basketball powerhouse.
“I would like to go and play for Southern University,” he said. “I like the basketball program and the school, being that it has a lot of Black History and stuff like that.”
Before he can attend Southern, Evans said he has lofty goals for his squad in the second half of the season, and it starts with district play, which gets underway for them in two weeks.
“I want to go undefeated in district,” he said. “I know we can do it. When we play to the best of our abilities and to our strengths, we are one of the toughest teams in the state. As long as we play hard, we can come out on top in the district.”
There will be stiff competition standing in the way of the Wildcats winning the district with teams like North Vermilion and Kaplan to name a few, capable of giving them a run for the district title.
Looking ahead to the final half of his senior season, Evans set goals for himself on the court, as well as off of the hardwood.
“I want to win district, take my team to the Top 28, become a better person and a better player,” he said. “I want to go into college, make a name for myself and make sure my family is good.”