Wildcats open district play against Erath

District 6-3A boys basketball gets underway tonight with the Abbeville Wildcats hosting Erath.
The Wildcats enter the game with a 9-9 record after defeating Franklin 82-65 Friday night.
“It was an important win for us,” said Abbeville head coach Berwick Hamilton. “It was important for us to get our confidence back heading into district.”
The team started their season 0-7, but the team has won nine of their last 11 games going into district play.
The Wildcats are built to play good defense and score easy buckets off of turnovers in transition.
They have a deep squad, and at times, all of the players on the bench play significant minutes, something that Hamilton says will pay off down the line.
“We will need those guys later in the season,” Hamilton said. “We need to start preparing them now.”
Erath comes into the contest with a 3-13 record.
In their game Friday night, the Bobcats fell to Catholic High New Iberia 86-42.
Before the loss to Catholic High, Erath had picked up a two-point win over Westminster Christian.
Erath is led by the combo of Elijah Mitchell and Jaylen Sinegal, but they have a slew of other players that can contribute.
Despite Erath’s record, Hamilton said that anything can happen when district starts.
“You never know what can happen,” he said. “It’s a rivalry, and games like this are always tought. Hopefully we are going in very focused.”
In a game against St. Martinville, Hamilton said he believed the Tigers had exposed some of their weaknesses, and the team worked on those holes in preparation for the Bobcats.
“We are trying to sharpen up on things we’ve been doing, especially on offense.” Hamilton said. “We have been working on our offensive sets in man-to-man, because St. Martinville exposed us a little bit.”
Both teams will try to get off on the right foot in district play, when the games truly start to matter.