French scores 26 to lead Downey past Pitman for CCAL’s top spot
The Pitman High School gym rang with chants in the first half of a tightly contested Central California Athletic League matchup between the Pride and Downey High, but the home crowd’s melodies weren’t directed at their own team.
“Overrated” taunts were directed at Knights guard Lloyd French, who missed a pair of free throws.
The noise from the Pride’s student section didn’t faze him. French knew what he came to Turlock to do.
The Wednesday evening game featured two 2-0 teams, each determined to come out with a win.
He got to work early, scoring 22 points with a powerful breakaway dunk and adding two steals in just the first half of Downey’s 52-44 win. With the win, the Knights gained sole possession of the league’s top spot.
“If you hear the ‘overrated’ chants, you’re doing something right,” French said with a smile after his 26-point, 10-rebound, three-steal performance. “I stopped letting the crowd get to me, I learned that last year … I don’t let it faze me anymore.”
The Knights are in the midst of their best start in recent memory, and French is leading the way.
The 6-foot-3 guard played on the freshman team at Modesto High and then was promoted to varsity upon transferring to Downey during his sophomore year in 2020.
Third-year coach Mitch Evans, whose first season as head coach was French’s first on varsity, has seen him grow from a wide-eyed underclassman on a three-win team during the COVID-19 shortened spring season to a 1,000-point scorer and team captain.
“He’s been the catalyst of everything,” Evans said. “Six days a week in the off-season, he’s the one that’s always leading the drills. He leads our practices mainly. Obviously, he scores a lot of points for us, but they all look to him to really lead us to wherever we want to go.”
The Knights opened up a 36-27 halftime lead, which quickly ballooned to a 41-29 advantage. They led by 10 after the third quarter.
The Pride changed from a man to a 2-3 zone in the fourth quarter and immediately went on a 6-0 run, cutting the lead to 43-40 and forcing a Knights timeout with 3 minutes, 51 seconds remaining.
Downey ended the game outscoring the Pride 9-4, led by a pair of free throws from French and senior Camden Rush.
“They’re a really, really good team and we knew that,” Evans said. ”We knew we were gonna get their best shot, for sure. They’re really on point on defense, and they take really smart shots on offense, so … we knew that we would have to grind it out and get it done.”
On the season, French boasts averages of 25 points, 9.4 rebounds and 3.7 steals, all team highs, but he has had help.
Rotation players Rush, Jorden Lewis and Kimoni Ragland are also three-year varsity members. The four players and Evans have been the core of a team that has gone from 3-21 in 2019-20 to 15-5 with eight games left to play.
“They really trusted me when I came in their sophomore year,” Evans said. “We started out rough and they still kept buying in … during that COVID year. It definitely was rough to start, but they kept coming in the off-season and kept trusting me, so I really appreciate that.”
Said French of the team’s improvement: “It’s amazing to see because we are not really known for basketball. We’re really putting the school on the map.”
The Knights made their first playoff appearance since 2012 last season and this year have a chance at another milestone.
One of their goals for the season is to bring a league championship to Downey for the first time since they won the Modesto Metro Conference in 2008. That year, the team finished 23-7, 14-2 in league and advanced to the second round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I playoffs.
A CCAL championship was within grasp last season but they fell to third place after back-to-back losses against Modesto and Turlock.
“We had a chance to win and we fell short,” Evans said. “So we’re just trying to get better every day and just take it one game at a time.
“It’s definitely on their minds. We haven’t won league in quite a while, so it’s very important to them.”
This story was originally published January 19, 2023 at 11:11 AM.
