BACK FOR MORE—St. Thomas Aquinas guard Stephen Burches will be looking to help the Falcons secure their second consecutive state championship this week in Lafayette. Burches and the Falcons face Many tonight at 5 p.m. in the Class 2A semifinals.

LAFAYETTE—If the St. Thomas Aquinas Falcons want a return ticket to the Top 28 Class 2A state championship game on Saturday, all they have to do is the same thing they've done all season.

Find a way to overcome bigger, stronger teams.

The top-seeded Falcons (35-1) face just such an obstacle in the semifinals today at 5 p.m. against Many (33-7), a team that like STA can play a number of different styles effectively.

"They can play in a number of ways," STA coach Errol Gauff said of the Tigers, who are led by versatile 6-2 guard Dantrell Thomas (21 ppg.), who was voted the District 4-2A MVP, and by burly post presence Nic Jacobs (6-6, 17.1 ppg.). Freshman Rod Davis (6-3) is the only other double-digit scorer at 10.4 ppg.

"They can get in that athletic game and still have some size out on the floor at 6-3, 6-4," Gauff said. "Or they can get in that halfcourt game and really use the big guy; he's about 6-7 and 250 (pounds). They've got some guys who can shoot the ball and they're a very good rebounding team."

Not that it's anything the Falcons haven't already seen this year. STA's lone loss was to Class 4A Ellender, by just five points. It's list of conquests is highlighted by Class 4A finalist O. Perry Walker, Class 3A semifinalist Port Allen, and Class 1A finalist, top seed and No. 1-ranked Christian Life.

Considering STA's biggest ‘big’ is only about 6-3, that begs the question — who did they do it against the likes of 6-foot-7 Port Allen post Williams Nelson, as well as other talented big men?

"It's a team effort," Gauff said. "The first thing is defending the guards out on the perimeter. You've got to get (the post players) the ball; let's make it difficult for that guard or whoever that perimeter player is making the pass.

"We've got to really make it tough for them to make the pass, and then it's do your best to hold him off until we can get some help there," Gauff said. "(Our post defenders) understand that their teammates are going to help them. We don't try to have one guy shut down the big guy. It's a team effort, from how we can guard along the perimeter to make the passes difficult to get to the big guy to what we do after the ball gets inside."

Of course, the falcons create their own matchup problems with athleticism that few teams have been able to counter. Senior wing Thad Showers leads the team in scoring at 19.9 points per game, with senior Stephen Burches (12.3 ppg.) and junior Raymone Andrews (10.7 ppg.) offering balance.

But it's all predicated on defense first, a sacrifice the Falcons have gladly bought into thanks to a carrot of sorts Gauff dangles in front of them.

"We want to get the game in transition," Gauff said. "All kids want to get out and run; that's how they want to play. We say, if you want to play that way, you have to put forth the effort on defense to get a deflection, grab a loose ball, get a rebound, get a steal, then you can go do that."

Which is why they're playing for a berth in the finals for the second year in a row, aiming for a crack at the winner of today's earlier semifinal between Ferriday (23-3) and Lakeside (29-7) at 3:30 p.m.

If the Falcons win tonight, they will play for the title on Saturday at 6:30 p.m.