Roosevelt Bridges knows the road back to Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson isn’t going to be easy.
This season, the West Lowndes High School boys basketball will have to make an additional trip to Jackson and play the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 1A quarterfinals at Jackson State if it wants to go back to “the Big House” for the second-straight year.
If Thursday is any indication, West Lowndes appears to have plenty of pieces it can use to fuel another run. Led by 10 points by D’Quaylon Brown and LeJarius Sanders, top-seeded West Lowndes used a balanced scoring attack to defeat Nanih Waiya 76-51 in the semifinals of the MHSAA Class 1A, Region 5 tournament at West Lowndes High.
With the win, West Lowndes (16-8) will play host to second-seeded West Oktibbeha at 8:30 tonight for a chance to win the region title.
“I really think we have a better team this year than we had last year,” Bridges said. “We only lost two guys from last year. We have more shooters. We can shoot the ball, and we are playing a little better defense. The guys are a whole lot faster, too. We are small, but we are really quick.”
West Lowndes showcased that speed in the first quarter. It raced out to an 8-0 and led 25-6 after eight minutes. Nanih Waiya twice cut the lead to nine points in the second quarter, but West Lowndes’ lead never was in jeopardy. The Panthers built and maintained the lead by playing unselfishly in the opening quarter. Point guard Casey Smith directed an offense that showed versatility with treys from Smith and Brown. Even though Wendell Rieves, one of the team’s tallest players, was hampered by foul trouble all game, the Panthers still had too many weapons. West Lowndes’ aggressiveness in its pressure defense forced turnovers and led to three-straight layups at one point in the opening quarter.
“I think we are playing a little better team ball than we did last year,” Bridges said. “We came back this year and talked with them and let them know that you have been to the Big House one time (and we want to go back). We have been doing pretty good, so I feel like we will go back again this year.”
Last season, West Lowndes (11-12) lost to Shaw 64-31 in the MHSAA Class 1A semifinals at Mississippi Coliseum. The 31 points were a season low for the Panthers, who lost senior Jeremy McGee from that team McGee had 10 points and seven rebounds against Shaw and was the only West Lowndes player to score in double figures.
This season, Rieves, Brown, and Smith are just three players who are putting the experience of playing in Mississippi Coliseum last season to good use this year. Bridges said the Panthers have an 18-player varsity lineup that enables him to keep the intensity high on defense for 32 minutes. On Thursday, 13 of those players scored. LeDarius Sanders added eight points, while three other Panthers had seven, and three more had six.
Bridges feels all of the players are using a return trip to Jackson as motivation. He said the players really understand getting to play in Mississippi Coliseum again won’t be given to them and that the Panthers will have to keep playing defense and relying on the sum of their parts.
Smith ran the point last season, too. He said last year’s team had a better defense and executed better. He said this year’s team has to get together and come together to be stronger and realize its goal of getting back to Jackson.
“We have to start being unselfish,” Smith said. “There are a lot of guys who weren’t on the team last year who don’t know how it feels (to go to Jackson), so we’re trying to get them together and show them what it takes to get there and to win.”
Smith said West Lowndes came close to playing its best basketball against West Oktibbeha in a regular-season region game. He said the Panthers executed on offense, played great defense, and pushed the tempo in that game to offer a glimpse of how they need to play to get back to the Big House. Compared to the team’s effort Thursday, Smith said West Lowndes has work to do.
“We weren’t very strong,” Smith said. “It’s going to be very tough to get back to Jackson. We have to get together and be mentally strong and play as a team. That is the only way we’re going to get back to Jackson.”
n In the first boys game of the evening, second-seeded West Oktibbeha used an offensive rebound outback by Tyrone Spencer with 6.5 seconds remaining to edge third-seeded East Oktibbeha 72-71.
East Oktibbeha’s Travion Arnold had a jump shot from the right wing go in and out just before the buzzer to preserve West Oktibbeha’s victory.
Tyrone and Tyshon Spencer paced West Oktibbeha with 22 points, while Lysanius Ford added 14.
Jamarkis Jordan led East Oktibbeha with 26, while Moses Hall had 22.
East Oktibbeha led 65-58 with three minutes to go, but a 3-pointer and an offensive rebound outback by Tyson Spencer cut the deficit to 65-63. Spencer converted another offensive rebound and completed a three-point play with 1:44 to go to make it 67-66. But Jordan hit his second-consecutive layup to push the Titans’ lead back to three. Tyrone Spencer and Hall exchanged layups before the Titans left the door open, going 0-for-2 from the free-throw line and then missed a shot with 26.9 seconds left to play.
West Oktibbeha nearly didn’t cash in. The Timberwolves missed two free throws but grabbed another offensive rebound. This time, Hall committed his fifth foul on an offensive rebound putback by Tyrone Spencer that cut the lead to 71-70. Spencer missed the free throw to complete the three-point play, but Tyshon Spencer collected the rebound and missed. Tyrone Spencer was on hand to clean up and convert to provide the winning margin.
n In the final girls game of the day, top-seeded West Lowndes, which went 8-0 in the region in the regular season, had all it could take from West Oktibbeha before pulling away in the fourth quarter for a 62-52 victory.
Laquesha Clemons, who had to deal with a box-and-one all game, had six of her game-high 27 points early in the fourth quarter to help the Lady Panthers seize the lead. Keiara Bridges added 11 points and Moesha Clemons had nine for West Lowndes, which will take on Nanih Waiya at 7 tonight.
A drive by Adryana Bell (team-high 19 points) helped West Oktibbeha cut the deficit to 51-50 with 3:03 to go. West Oktibbeha had a chance to take the lead but missed a drive.
West Lowndes went 7 of 8 from the free-throw line in the final 2:01 to seal the deal.
The free-throw line wasn’t kind to West Oktibbeha, which went 14-for-35. Alexis Neely added 16 points for West Oktibbeha, but she was 8 of 19 from the free-throw line. Bell was 3 of 10.
Shannon Tate added 10 points for West Oktibbeha, which will face Noxapater at 4 p.m. today in a consolation game. The East Oktibbeha boys will take on Nanih Waiya at 5:30 p.m.
The top four finishers in the region will play in the state tournament, which will begin next week.
n In other action Thursday night, the Columbus Christian boys basketball team lost to Union Christian Academy (La.) 73-71 in the second round of the Mississippi Association of Independent School Class A tournament at Rebul Academy in Learned.
KC Cunningham had 15 points and RJ Deloach added 14 for the Rams, who ended their season at 25-6.
n The Victory Christian Academy boys basketball team rolled to an 81-49 victory against Lindsay Lane in the quarterfinals of the Alabama Christian Education Athletic Association playoffs in Oxford, Alabama. Victory Christian will play First Assembly at 8 tonight in the ACEAA Final Four. First Assembly defeated Tuscaloosa (Ala.) Christian 56-52.
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.