RAYVILLE, La. &045; It might not have qualified as a gamble, but Ferriday head coach James Davis may have indeed rolled the dice Wednesday.

When his Trojans matched up against a Rayville team that had a solid presence in the post and some good shooters, the coach scrapped conventional basketball wisdom and went with his gut &045; man-to-man defense the entire game.

It worked. The Trojans made some huge stops in the third quarter to take an 86-81 win to get into the semifinals of the Rayville tournament. They will face Excelsior Christian at 3:30 p.m. today, and a win would put them in the final tonight against the Ouachita-Wossman winner.

&uot;We played pretty well on both ends of the floor,&uot; Davis said. &uot;They pressed pretty well, and we were able to get some high-percentage shots. That was the difference in the game &045; that and our man-to-man defense. They have some exceptional shooters. I didn’t want to play zone and let them get off to a good start.&uot;

Instead, it was the Hornets’ inside game that was the difference early before Ferriday (13-2) put the clamps on the game in the third quarter. Rayville led 48-41 at half before the Trojans outscored the home team 26-10 in the third to lead 67-58 heading into the fourth quarter.

From there the Trojans were able to hold on in the fourth to beat them team that ended their season last year in the playoffs.

&uot;We had a lot of pressure on their shooters, and it was pretty much throughout the ball game,&uot; Davis said. &uot;They’d get a spurt, and we’d get a spurt. We stepped up the defense going into halftime. We made some adjustments on their big man (Justin Lawson). He was pretty tough right under the goal. He hurt us in the first half, and coming into the third quarter we made the adjustments.&uot;

Dominique Myles and Antonio Burns led the Trojans with 21 points apiece, while LaDerrick Metcalf had 20.

Lawson had 24 to lead Rayville.