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FERRIDAY, La. — Not that long ago, Ferriday High School’s varsity boys’ basketball team had an 11-game winning streak heading into LHSAA District 2-2A play. But since district play started two weeks ago, it has been tough sledding for the Trojans.

Last Tuesday night, with two of their top scorers out, the Ferriday Trojans got a season-high 28 points from C.J. Washington as they held on for a 63-54 win over the Oak Grove High School Tigers to end a two-game losing streak.

“We definitely needed a victory for our psyche. With Mike and Demarcus out, some other guys had to step up like Jay Jefferson and a couple of freshmen,” Trojans head coach Shawn Davis said. “We told C.J. on the bus coming back from Ouachita Christian Monday night that he had to be more assertive and more aggressive.”

Ferriday was without Michael Kelly, its No. 2 scorer and No. 1 rebounder, who also had to miss Monday night’s district road game at Ouachita Christian School after coming down with the flu, as well as Demarcus Mitchell, the Trojans’ No. 3 scorer, after he re-injured his knee the first minute of the OCS game.

After a sluggish start and trailing Ferriday 15-10 after one quarter of play, Oak Grove tried to make it tough on the Trojans as the Tigers outscored them 20-10 in the second quarter to go into halftime down just one point, 31-30.

But the trio of Jefferson, Washington, and BeDe Terrell, as well as their teammates, turned up the defensive pressure in the third quarter. That allowed Ferriday to outscore Oak Grove 19-9 in that quarter for a 50-39 advantage. The Tigers tried to rally in the fourth quarter, but they could only manage a 15-13 edge.

“Washington was more aggressive. He can play that way if he wants to,” Davis said. “That’s how it’s going to be going forward until we get Mike back and get Mitchell back. We’re still in good shape. We’re No. 3 in Non-Select Division IV (power rankings).”

Terrell finished with 16 points while Jefferson ended up with 13 point for Ferriday. Oak Grove was led by Jay Freeman with 18 points and Jackson Bradley with 13 points.

With the win, the Trojans improved to 19-6 overall and 2-3 in district play. They travel to Bastrop, La. to take on district foe Beekman Charter School at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

Ouachita Christian boys 52, Ferriday 48 (Monday night)

MONROE, La. — Turnovers and injuries proved to be costly for Ferriday High School as they lost a tough District 2-2A game on the road to the Ouachita Christian School Eagles 52-48.

It was bad enough that Ferriday would be without Michael Kelly, who had to miss the game after head coach Shawn Davis said that he had the flu. But then with the Trojans leading 9-0, Demarcus Mitchell suffered an injury to the same knee for the second time this season in the opening minute of the first quarter.

Ouachita Christian outscored Ferriday 12-6 the rest of the quarter and went into the second quarter down 15-12, but with momentum on the Eagles’ side. Then turnovers plagued the Trojans in the second quarter and they ended up being outscored by OCA 14-4 to go into halftime down 26-19.

“Turnover bug in the second quarter. We had a drought. We made six straight turnovers. They converted a lot of those turnovers,” Davis said. “Once they got ahead, it was a grind trying to get back in the game. You combine the injuries with the turnovers and it was a grind.”

Yet Ferriday would not go away quietly as the Trojans outscored Ouachita Christian 16-12 in the third quarter to make it a 38-35 game. But the Eagles made sure that Ferriday’s comeback would be short-lived as they outscored the Trojans 14-13 in the fourth quarter.

Ouachita Christian was led in scoring by T. Raymond with 13 points and A. Melton with 12 points. Ferriday (18-6, 1-3) was led by BeDe Terrell with a game-high 17 points, followed by C.J. Washington with 13 points.