CLINTON — For Leake Academy, the fourth time was the charm.
After losing to Heritage Academy in the playoffs in each of the last three seasons, the Rebels got over the hump by knocking off the Patriots, 64-60, in the First Round of the MAIS Boys Overall Basketball Tournament at Mississippi College’s A.E. Wood Coliseum on Thursday night.
Leake Academy (32-3) will play Jackson Prep in the Second Round at 2:15 p.m. today.
“We have played those guys in the playoffs every year in North State and every year those guys play harder than us and they’re tougher than us, so I challenge my team to play hard,” said Leake Academy coach Jason Morgan. “We played hard for most of the 32 minutes and when we gave up the lead we were being soft, but we had to be tough to get the lead back.”
Leake Academy held a 15-9 edge at the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter, every time Heritage cut into the Rebel lead, Leake had an answer, eventually holding a 31-26 halftime lead.
The Patriots began the third quarter with a 13-5 run to take a 39-36 lead with 2:48 remaining, but Leake standout guard Samuel Prince scored seven of the Rebels next eight points to give Leake a 44-41 lead and eventually hold a 47-43 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
In the fourth quarter the Rebels extended their lead out to 53-43 early on, but Heritage kept chipping away.
The Patriots cut the lead down to 59-56 with just over two minutes left, but Gage Warren hit a lay-up and a pair of free throws with 1:15 remaining to give Leake a 63-56 lead to seal the game.
Points in the paint were key as Leake Academy scored 42 points from near the rim.
“We have been an offensive rebounding team all year and Samuel Prince and Carter Seals take pretty good first shots and usually get better second shots,” Morgan said. “Heritage is fast and athletic, and that was a point of emphasis for us was to slow them down and not let them get fast break points.”
Prince, a Northwest Community College commit, finished with a game-high 31 points to lead Leake Academy, while Seals added 15 points for the Rebels.
“A long-time foe in Heritage, we’ve played them a couple of times in the playoffs, and they beat us pretty bad, so we had a chip on our shoulder for this to be a different outcome and continue our season,” Prince said. “We did a good job of getting them in foul trouble early and that helped, but we played with nothing to lose and came out on top.”
Chris Willis finished with 24 points to lead Heritage, while Xzavier Webber added 22 points for the Patriots (14-8).
“It all comes down to they had a great game and we didn’t,” said Heritage Academy coach Andrew Howell. “We had times where we didn’t handle adversity very well and didn’t play as hard as we could have at times against a team that plays hard. We had the late start with football and the guys started to gel together towards the end and I’m proud they fought towards the end of the year to get here.”
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