By LEE HILLER, Journal Sports
LAKE CHARLES – Peabody and Carver, two storied boys basketball programs in Louisiana, will meet for the second year in a row in the LHSAA’s Select Division II semifinals today at Burton Coliseum at 2:45.
Peabody is the No. 2 seed with a 30-5 record while Carver is the third seed and sports a 24-9 record.
Last year Carver slipped past Peabody 46-44 in the semifinals on its way to its second straight state championship. The Rams are in their fifth straight state tournament and a third state crown in a row would give the school a total of four.
The Warhorses are led by a pair of 6-foot-5 seniors in Jordan Mathews and Justin Burns.
Mathews averages 16.3 points per game and 11 rebounds while Burns scores 14.7 points and leads the team with 14.2 rebounds a game. Junior guard Rashad Mitchell (11.3 points per game) and junior forward Isaiah Jones (10.9) round out the double-digit scoring averages.
Senior point guard Laurence Nathan leads Carver with a 19.4 points per game average and 6.8 assists per game. He also averages 9.1 rebounds a game but 6-9 junior Daijon Leatherman leads the team in rebounds with 17.2 per game and is second in scoring at 18.7. Leatherman had 22 points and 15 rebounds in the Rams 54-37 quarterfinal win over No. 6 Lafayette Christian.
The winner will face the winner of No. 4 Shaw and top-ranked Madison Prep, who play in the game before at 1 p.m. today. The championship game is Saturday at 4.
Peabody is fifth in the state with nine state championships, one behind now defunct Redemptorist. Zwolle is tied with Southern Lab for the lead in the state with 16 and plays Anacoco Friday in a Non-Select Division V title game. Newman is third with 11 and plays University Friday for the Select Division III championship.
Peabody coach Charles Smith has steered the Warhorses to eight of those state titles and 1,205 wins, fifth all-time in national high school history. He is a finalist, in his first year of nomination, for the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass.