Youth Fest features Payton, Long

Morning Glory Ministries in Morgan City held its sixth annual Youth Fest Saturday at the church.
“The youth fest is an encouragement fest where kids from all over come out and display their talents, and we teach them they can be whoever God called them to be,” said Jessica Daniels, the church’s youth director.
More than 100 kids turned out to showcase their talent, enjoy food and listen to speakers.
“We have some groups that come out every year to support,” Daniels said. “We started out with like 40 kids but for the last four years, we’ve had at least a hundred kids.”
The keynote speaker was Jeric Bias.
Special guests were former Louisiana Lafayette standout and first-round NBA draft pick Elfrid Payton of the Orlando Magic and former Morgan City High and current ULL standout Shawn Long.
Payton, a Gretna native, was ranked No. 16 in school history in scoring for the Ragin’ Cajuns with 1,425 points. He snared 508 rebounds while also recording 486 assists, good enough for fifth in school history.
He also owns the school record with 197 steals.
Payton is just the second player in ULL history to be selected in the first round of the NBA Draft. Payton was selected 10th overall this year.
“I’ve just been working out and trying to learn the NBA game,” Payton said. “But when my brother (Long) asked me to come do this, it was a no brainer. I try to give back as much as I can.”
In his junior season, Payton had per game averages of 19.2 points, 6 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 2.3 steals.
Long enters his junior season as one of just three college basketball players to average a double-double the past two seasons.
A year ago, he ranked 28th nationally with 2.68 blocks per game. His rebounding totals his first two years at ULL rank fourth- and fifth-best all-time.
Long is third all-time in school history with 156 career blocks, too.
“I had a lot (of) camps lined up this summer,” he said. “I just got back from Los Angeles at Adidas Nation, and at the start of the summer, I went to the Nike Big Man’s Academy, and both of those camps involve some of the top 30 players in the nation. So I embraced that and looked at (it) as a chance to get better.”
With his busy summer, Long couldn’t get home much.
“I was gone most of the summer, but when I can get home, I try to do something positive like this,” he said.
Long, a junior, is projected as an NBA lottery pick by multiple basketball websites.
“I don’t worry about that,” he said. “You can have all the projections in the world. It’s all about producing next year, and that’s what I’m working on.”