The New Iberia Senior High boys’ basketball team won its first game under Todd Russ on Thursday, but the Yellow Jackets have a lot more work to do to become the team the first-year coach wants them to become.

Despite having several players with only three practices under their belts after joining the team following the football season, NISH overwhelmed a Breaux Bridge team missing four starters who are still with the BBHS football team in the Class 4A playoffs.

New Iberia (1-0) did not trail after taking a 7-5 lead on a steal and layup by Jalen Jones with 2:35 to go in the first quarter, pushing the lead to double digits on a 3-point play by Chris Cormier with just under three minutes remaining in the half and getting the lead as high as 20 points in the fourth quarter before a late Breaux Bridge run cut the final margin to 16 points at 63-47.

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“They’ve had three practices,” said Russ of the half-dozen players who just joined the team after the football season ended in the first round of the playoffs. “In three days I’ve tried to cover three-fourths of what we’ve put in.

“Their effort is phenomenal. Those guys worked hard for coach (Rick) Hutson (in football), and I expect no less from them for me.”

Cormier paced the Jackets with 13 points, including a 3-point shot. A defensive lineman in football at 6-foot-3 and 280 pounds, showed nice shooting touch, going 4-for-5 from the free throw line.

As a team, the Jackets were only 11-for-24 from the free throw line.

“What’s funny is you expect (guards) Trevor Boutte and Jelani Benoit to step up and cash in (at the foul line), but Chris Cormier, the big guy, is the one who stepped up and closed the deal for us.”

Boutte finished with 7 points, hitting New Iberia’s other 3-point shot on the night, and Benoit had 5, going 3-for-5 at the charity stripe.

After Cormier’s 3-point play with 2:58 to go in the half made it a 24-13 NISH lead, Felton Gregory kept the Tigers close, scoring 6 points in the second quarter, including a drive with 51 seconds to go that made it a 28-19 game at halftime.

Felton finished with a team-high 14 points but was only 5-for-12 from the free throw line. The Tigers were 14-for-26 as a team.

“We’re just trying to get the kids to learn,” said BBHS coach Kevin Bonhomme, in his first year at the school. Bonhomme coached at Church Point before going to Breaux Bridge. “We only have one kid (Jarred Monette) who has varsity experience. A couple of kids, it’s their first year playing. They’re not freshmen but they haven’t played before.”

An 8-0 run over a three-minute stretch of the third quarter, capped by Javonta Johnson’s layup off a steal by Dalario Austin, helped push the NISH lead to 44-25, and the Jackets led 44-27 heading into the fourth quarter.

Boutte gave New Iberia its first 20-point lead on a jumper with 6:06 to go in the game, and though the Tigers cut the lead to 12 points on a steal and layup by Tommy Celestine with 1:15 to go, Breaux Bridge could not cut its deficit under double digits.

Celestine scored 12 points, as did Monette.

Mark Gray scored 12 points and Kemory Deal had 8 points for New Iberia. Austin and Jones scored 6 apiece.

“Right now it’s everything,” said Russ of what his team needs to improve upon.

“The one thing that the coaching staff has been demanding is effort. The effort is there.”

Now it’s a matter of getting the football players in basketball shape, which could take a week and a half to two weeks for the guards and perhaps longer for some of the big guys, said Russ.

“What’s tough is the (Thanksgiving) holidays are here,” he said. “We have three days at the Acadiana Tournament, and I’m going to give them some time off to spend with their families. They need that. After the holidays we have exams.

“We will push them to be in shape come district time.”