Bogalusa’s D’Angelo Mark hit a game-winning layup with five seconds left, sending the Lumberjacks to a 67-66 victory over Archbishop Hannan in a District 7-3A contest on the road Tuesday.
The Lumberjacks were trailing 66-65 when Mark hit the winner. After his shot, Hannan called timeout with 4.9 seconds left and made a shot, but after the buzzer, as Bogalusa hung on for the victory.
Mark tallied 13 points.
DaJuan Powell had a solid night. Powell led the team in points with 18, to go with six steals and four assists.
Braedtrick Whittine and Dianté Lenoir both posted a double-double. Whittine scored 12 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Lenoir finished with 10 points, 10 rebounds and four steals.
The Lumberjacks forced 30 turnovers and outrebounded Hannan, 33-26. Bogalusa knocked down five of its 13 attempts from 3-point range (38.4 percent).
Bogalusa began the year 1-15, but entered Friday’s game having won four of its last six contests. The two losses in that period were to Franklinton 71-53 and Loranger 47-46.
The Lumberjacks are 47th in the unofficial LHSAA Class 3A power rankings.
Bogalusa coach Randall Ginn had a lot of good things to say about his team.
“This team is finally finding its own identity,” Ginn said. “It was a rough start to the season, with no returning varsity players from last year. I coached against Brian Williams, Lab Keys and Tramarcus Levi, and that kind of height, ability and experience wasn’t here. We battled versus many (Class) 4A and 5A teams earlier without a lot of winning.  However, the kids had a great attitude and kept coming to practice.”
“As we have played more schools of our size lately, our perseverance seems to be paying off. We have a great group of kids who are athletes, but not necessarily skilled basketball players. That is a process, unless you have overwhelming talent.
“We couldn’t ask for a better senior leader than Dianté Lenoir. He leads by his words and actions. Braedtrick Whittine has really improved his play as we’ve hit district. DaJuan Powell has provided a steady hand at point guard and is our leading scorer.
“We have a chance to win this district, which would be a great accomplishment after a tough start. All you can ask at anything in life is to be better than you were the day before,” Ginn said.
Hannan is 7-13 and is 13th in Division II.