It’s all about confidence for the Heritage Academy boys basketball team.
Buoyed by its first playoff victories in six years, Heritage Academy will look to extend its season at 7:45 tonight when it takes on Simpson Academy in its first game at the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools (MAIS) Class AAA State tournament at Kirk Academy in Grenada.
Heritage Academy (19-5) is coming off a 3-1 showing at the Class AAA North State tournament at Leake Academy. Heritage Academy beat Central Hinds Academy 64-56 and St. Joseph Catholic School 50-44 before losing to Starkville Academy 43-31. It defeated Leake Academy 60-54 to finish third and secure one of the four berths in the event.
Heritage Academy coach Russ Whiteside, who is in his first season at the school, believes in his team. He feels his senior-led group will receive a lift from the news that Leake Academy beat top-ranked Columbia Academy 66-64 in the first round Tuesday night.
“We play in a really good league,” Whiteside said. “We have got a really good group. I think (Leake Academy beating Columbia Academy) will give them a little confidence, but I think the kids already believe they can go out and win. We wore the dark jerseys (lower seeded team) in every game up until the consolation game last week. They believe they can go beat higher-seeded teams. They did it all week last week. They’re not cocky or arrogant about it. They have a belief they can go do it. It is a nice thing to have.”
Whiteside pointed to the senior leadership of Dalton Ford, Tyner Swedenburg, Ryan Edwards, and William Yingst as a key to the team’s success this season. He said players have emerged to fill in when the Patriots have been short handed due to injuries to Eli Acker and Moak Griffin. Now that the team is back to better health, Whiteside hopes the Patriots can build momentum to make another run. The top three teams advance to the Overall State tournament at Mississippi College in Clinton.
Whiteside also hopes to see the Patriots bounce back from a 19-percent shooting effort against the Volunteers in the semifinals last Friday. He admitted to being “concerned” about how the team was going to respond to the loss against Leake Academy the next day, but he said he was pleased with the performance.
“I am proud of the way we bounced back and played well to get that win,” Whiteside said. “I think our seniors just got out there and led the way and responded rally well. It didn’t have anything to do with me getting them back focused. They found a way. I just tried to tell them to put it behind them and relax and have fun and continue to do what they did the first part of the week.”
Part of what the Patriots did was play good defense. Whiteside also said the Patriots did a better job of working the ball inside out. He said the team struggled to do that against Starkville Academy, which contributed to the shooting percentage. Whiteside feels confident his team will learn from the last four games and will continue to play with the same kind of effort that has extended the season this deep for the first time in recent years.
Whiteside said the team talked about making a run to the state tournament in June when preparations for the season started. He said the players have stepped up and believed in themselves to make all of that talk more than just idle conversation.
“It has been a group effort led by the seniors all year long,” Whiteside said. “I am proud of the way they have played and competed all year.
“I am so happy with the way they are competing. Even the other night against Starkville we competed our tails off and played really good defense. I felt like we got a great effort out of our team, but we were not very good on the offensive end. … I think we are playing really hard and competing. I think our guys are rally hungry to continue playing. Hopefully that will continue over to (tonight).”
n Brookhaven
Academy 50, Starkville Academy 49: Brookhaven Academy used a 9-for-16 effort from the 3-point line to overcome 16 turnovers in its first round victory in the Class AAA tournament at Kirk Academy.
Brookhaven Academy also had a 24-14 rebounding edge.
Reid Stevens led Starkville Academy with 20 points. Codie Futral had 16 points, nine assists, and two steals. Carter Roach had six points and four assists.
n In other MAIS action, the Hebron Christian girls basketball team beat Humphreys Academy 60-12 in the first round of the Class A North State tournament at Rebul Academy. Hebron Christian will play Tensas Academy at 1 p.m. Friday. Tensas Academy eliminated Central Academy 58-39.
In Class AA, the Amite School girls basketball team eliminated Oak Hill Academy 44-31 at Winona Christian School.
In boys action, Sylva Bay Academy eliminated reigning Class AA champion Columbus Christian Academy 65-57.
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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