Braden East Leads the Spartans to Victory!

Reviews with Rob | Iowa Colony vs Stafford

In the 4A Region IV District 26 Matchup, we got to see two undefeated schools battle it out for the number one seed in the district. Both of these schools are expected to be major contenders to represent the region in this year’s state tournament. Stafford came in with a record of 22-4 (2-0), while Iowa Colony’s record was 12-13 (3-0). First of all, I would like to say that this is one of (if not the best) school campus atmospheres that I have been a part of all basketball season. Both sides were spirited and loud. That’s what you love to see in these types of games. The action on the court was a battle of styles. You had Iowa Colony, with its plethora of guards that like to run and gun, versus Stafford, with its allotment of post players that like to run an offense. ℅ 2025 G BJ Gill was playing like he had something to prove. He hit shots from the perimeter and mid-range levels that had the crowd in a frenzy. Not to be outdone, Lamar commit Braden East was the anchor for Stafford. Every time it looked like Iowa Colony may run off with the game, he was there to dunk the Spartans back into striking distance. He had to have at least 3-5 dunks in the first half alone. After a spirited first half, Iowa Colony would lead 31-24.

The second half started kind of slow. I don’t know if it was great defense or bad shooting, but neither one of the offenses could get on track. The first basket was not scored until 4:20 left in the third quarter. We would see a new face pop up that would help take some of the pressure off of Mr. East. Unsigned senior F Dame Salane would provide not only height (6’10”) but a perimeter presence (he went 2-3 from the three-point line) and a defensive anchor (he had 4 blocks) that Iowa Colony had no answer for. Gill tried valiantly to keep Iowa Colony on track, but tonight would not be their night. After a couple of unsigned senior G Michael Fontenot-Ross fast break layups, Stafford had not only turned the game around in their favor, they had also sealed a huge victory with a score of 55-46. This propelled them to the number one seed in the district so far.

Iowa Colony was led by: BJ Gill with 18 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists

Stafford was led by: Braden East with 19 points, 14 rebounds, and 4 assists; Dame Salane with 10 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 blocks; Michael Fontenot-Ross with 7 points, 3 steals