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LAKE CHARLES, La. — Block High School varsity boys’ head basketball coach Ledois Norman had a defensive strategy of taking away the 3-point shooting of Hamilton Christian School’s duo of Seth Ned and Javon Vital.

And while that may have worked, Ned and Vital used their height and strength down in the post to not only wear down the Bears, but also get them in early foul trouble as the two combined for 51 points in No. 4 seed Hamilton Christian School Warriors’ 75-59 win over No. 13 seed Block last Monday night in the Regional Round of the 2025 LHSAA Select Division IV Playoffs.

Ned led all scorers with 26 points and Vital was right behind him with 25 points. The Warriors also got 12 points from Shawn Weston. The first quarter was the real difference in the outcome of this game as Hamilton Christian took advantage of several miscues by Block to take a 21-9 lead by the end of the quarter.

“I think we picked up four quick fouls and had a couple of turnovers in the first quarter that got us out of our game,” Norman said. “So we really had to play hard. We changed defenses to try to get back in the game.”

The Warriors outscored the Bears 17-14 in the second quarter to go into halftime with a 38-23 lead. And while Block did its best to cut into Hamilton Christian’s lead in the third quarter, the Warriors made sure there would be no comeback and no upset.

Kristian O’Steen led Block with 17 points while Ky’Leon Barber added 16 points and Bryan Bowie contributed with 14 points.

“Third quarter we came back and played pretty good. We were playing half-court man. Third quarter we played full-court man and we cut their lead down to 10. But they have three players who controlled the game,” Norman said. “They were the best three shooters on the court. I know going into the game that they had good players. I didn’t know how strong they are and they are good post players as well. All of them are good athletes.”

Norman said that Vital can play down low and that he knows how to post up and score easily. He then described Ned as “a good shooter” who can drive the ball well and that he is a good ball handler.

“They penetrated more down low than on the outside on us because they were much bigger and stronger that we were,” Norman said. “Hamilton Christian is one of the best teams we played all year. They are one of the most physical teams we played all year. They were more physical and had more depth.”

Block ended up outscoring Hamilton Christian 17-16 in the third quarter to make it 54-40 game. But the Warriors outscored the Bears 21-19 in the fourth quarter.

Foul trouble really hurt the Bears from the get-go. Point guard Marquese Bullitts fouled out early in the third quarter. Davante Glasper got in early foul trouble and ended up fouling out early without scoring a single point.

“We had to play some of our younger players. We had to play some of our sophomores. They weren’t as used to the atmosphere as much,” Norman said.

With the loss, District 2-1A champion Block finished with an overall record of 17-9.

“We’ve got to get back to the drawing board. We’ve got to get past the second round,” Norman said. “We’re only losing three seniors. But we have only one senior next year. We’re going to be young, but we’ve got room to grow and room for improvement. We’ve got freshmen and sophomores on the court.”