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People SearchFind an individual who either played a sport or was a member of a support group. Search by last name by clicking on the first letter of the person's last name.
Mr. Dennis "Denny" Wright
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Home Phone: 225-405-1610 Homecoming Spoiled: Wright denied trip to 3A final in return home Kevin Foote Wossman’s Davarious Dunn said he left something at the Cajundome during last year’s Top 28 while playing for Excelsior Christian. And the senior guard made no bones about it – he’s come back to get it. The loss spoiled the return to the Hub City by Plaquemine coach Denny Wright, a former star at Lafayette High and with the USL Ragin’ Cajuns. “I told our teammates that we were coming back to play Saturday,” said Dunn, who a year ago at Excelsior Christian lost in the Class C semifinals to powerhouse Reserve Christian. “I was going to attack them hard.” All the resolve from those defeats turned out to be more than the Green Devils could handle. By the time Plaquemine could get settled, Dunn had scored 10 points in the first quarter and led the Wildcats to a 20-8 lead. “My biggest concern coming in was their team speed, so we decided to attack them rather than allow them to attack us,” Wossman coach Dale Zimmerman said. “I think we were able to get them back on their heels.” Plaquemine cut its deficit to 27-22 with three minutes left in the first half, but could get no closer. “We let them get ahead of us too early,” said Wright. “We gave them too many quality shots early in the game. We were always having to come from behind. When we cut it to five, we weren’t able to get that one big play that we needed to really get back in the game.” While Dunn was the star for Wossman (26-7), he got help from Martez Sellers penetrating from the wings and Jonathan Ross inside with defense and rebounding. “Sometimes they forgot to block me out and I was able to slide in there and get an easy two,” said Ross, who had nine points and nine rebounds. Sellers finished with 11 points and four rebounds as Wossman’s only other double-figure scorer. “I’ve got to give credit to my staff,” Zimmerman said. “They recognized that they didn’t really have a tremendous ball-handler, so we tried to extend our pressure and we were able to create a few easy scoring baskets before they were able to make the adjustment.” Plaquemine managed three double-digit scorers, but it all centered around senior Adrian Wasso with 13 points and eight rebounds. Deryl Lewis was next with 10 points and five rebounds, followed by Maquel Robinson with 11 points, four rebounds and four assists. Wossman made second-chance baskets tough on the Green Devils by winning the rebounding battle 43-34. “I have to give Wossman credit,” Wright said. “They did a great job of playing great defense and with their toughness on the boards. Maybe we didn’t have enough penetration, but they just had more defensive toughness.” Daily Advertiser, March 5, 2008 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Kevin Foote Denny Wright’s ties to Lafayette are deep and go back a long way. After several stints as a college coach, Wright returns to the Cajundome at 6:30 tonight as the head coach of the Plaquemine Green Devils against Wossman. “It’s going to be nice,” Wright said. “I obviously have a lot of friends and family in this area. It’s going to be great to come back here where I had so much fun and so much success as a player years ago. I have a lot of great memories of my time in Lafayette.” Wright’s now ready to create a few more memories as his Green Devils hope to reach the state finals for the fifth time in school history during their ninth all-time Top 28 appearance. “Our school is very excited about this opportunity,” Wright said. The Devils actually began the playoffs in one of the more unenviable positions for a top 10-ranked team to be in – as the No. 8 seed. That potential quarterfinal matchup with No. 1, however, never took place. No. 16 Parkview Baptist knocked off No. 1 St. Louis in the second round and Plaquemine handled Parkview 58-38 to reach the Top 28 for the first time in 14 years. In addition to being excited about reaching the Top 28, this trip was a big relief for Wright. Since winning the state title in 1950, Plaquemine has had at least one Top 28 appearance in each decade. “We were running out of time in this decade,” Wright laughed. The secret to Plaquemine’s success is easy in Wright’s mind. “We play really hard,” he said. “We play good team defense. The Parkview coach made a comment about how hard our kids play and I appreciated that.” The Devils (28-10) are led by Deryl Lewis (16.2 pts), Maquel Robinson (11.1 pts) and Cody Edmond (10 pts). “Normally, we’re really a good tempo team,” Wright said. “We pretty consistently hold teams to 35 to 45 points a game and try to score about 45 to 55 points a game. Our top scorers don’t average 20 points a game, but we only average 51 points a game as a team.” Wossman is led by Davarious Dunn at 22.1 points a game. A transfer from Excelsior Christian, Dunn dominated the game in the quarterfinal win over Catholic High of New Iberia. The Panthers were leading by seven points at the half when Dunn sparked a dominating second-half comeback with game totals of 30 points and 14 rebounds. While at Excelsior Christian, Dunn made three straight trips to the Top 28 (winning in 2005) before the school ended its boys basketball program last summer. “This is my fourth trip down there and I do think it helps to have played there before, mainly because the background in the Cajundome is so different for shooters,” Dunn said. “But, really, I think we will win or lose with our defense. That’s always what wins big games against good competition.” “This game will be a lot about tempo,” Wossman coach Dale Zimmerman said. “We’ve got to dominate the game all the way, to keep them from turning it into a half-court game. “We will try to do that with pressure defense all over the court – which isn’t really different than what we have done a lot all season.” Daily Advertiser, March 4, 2008
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