COUSHATTA – One of Red River basketball’s motto’s has always been that the strength of its team is, well, the team.

Junior Jomello McDonald was honorably mentioned on the Louisiana Sports Writers Association Class 2A All-State basketball team, which is awarded based on the old LHSAA class system (1A-5A) and doesn’t split between Select and Non-Select.

McDonald averaged 12 points and 10 rebounds for a Red River squad that advanced to the Division III Non-Select championship game as a No. 13 seed.

The Bulldogs relied on an eight-to-nine-man rotation with a large handful of those guys capable of being the star on any given day.

So that may have been a reason why McDonald, the leader of Red River’s historic playoff push as a double-digit seed, didn’t land one of the 10 total spots on the First or Second Team.

Which could lend more credence to Red River coach Dadrian Harris getting Coach of the Year consideration, taking a team that didn’t theoretically have a no-doubt All-State player to a state championship game.

But Franklin High, a Class 2A member but the Division IV Non-Select champion, took home Player of the Year (Jay’Shaun Johnson) and Coach of the Year (Tremayne Johnson) honors.

Franklin beat Lakeview, the champion of Red River’s District 3-2A, in the Division IV title game.

District MVP Alonzo Driver of Lakeview did get second-team honors after averaging 15 points per game.

Winnfield and Mansfield also represented the district on the honorable mention list.