If he had his druthers, Jeff Norwood probably wouldn’t have the Tupelo High School boys basketball team shoot a lot of 3-pointers.
Norwood would prefer the Golden Wave to rely on their unselfishness and team play to work inside the arc and shoot a high percentage from the field.
But Norwood and Tupelo had to adjust Friday night when faced with the prospect of going against Columbus High’s zone defense in the first half.
The results might have been good enough to change Norwood’s thinking.
Chris Gilliam hit four of Tupelo’s nine 3-pointers in the first half to set the tone in a 66-57 victory against Columbus in the championship game of the Mississippi High School Activities Association (MHSAA) Class 6A, Region 1 tournament.
Kylan Hamilton led Tupelo (25-4) with 18 points, while Gilliam (12 points) was the only other player in double figures. Still, Tupelo, which earned its third victory this season against Columbus, received balanced scoring from Tyjil Hereford (nine), Jett Johnson (eight), and Jaylon Copeland (seven) to earn a first-round bye and the right to play at home in the second round next weekend.
“I don’t like to shoot a whole bunch of them, but the guy that came in and made the bulk of them (Gilliam), that is the most he has ever played since he has been here,” Norwood said. “We have always thought he was a shooter. Sometimes in practice he looks really good doing it, but he has gotten injured or sick and hasn’t been able to. But he came in tonight and played a vital in us getting a little room for him to play.”
Denijay Harris scored a game-high 25 points for Columbus (16-12), which will play host to Clinton at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. The Columbus High girls also will play host to Clinton at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
In the first championship game of the night, Alayjah Sherer had 18 points and Jalancia Kohlheim had 17 to lead the Tupelo to a 65-58 victory against Columbus.
Alara Davis (11 points) and Chemya Carouthers (10) also scored in double figures for the Golden Wave (24-5).
Zaria Jenkins had a game-high 22 points for Columbus (22-5), which split two regular-season meetings against Tupelo. Hannah White added 12 points and Tori Weir had 10.
In the boys game, Norwood said Columbus played a little more man-to-man defense in the last meeting in Columbus. He said he hoped Columbus would play man-to-man defense so Tupelo could get the game going up and down the court. But Tupelo’s effectiveness from the field in the first half drew Columbus out of the zone in the second half. As a result, Tupelo hit only one more 3-pointer, but it was able to rely on its execution in the half-court set to maintain a cushion after Columbus moved as close as 45-40 with 1 minute, 51 seconds left in the third quarter.
“We picked some inopportune spots to go into bad spurts, but these guys are still playing hard and gave us a chance to win the basketball game,” Columbus coach Gary Griffin said. “I knew it was going to be a pretty close game and that it was going to come down to the wire. A basket here or there and it turns the other way. Give the credit to Tupelo. They have an experienced team (seven seniors) with guys back last year that gave our team (which went on to win the Class 6A State title) fits, so I am very proud of these guys considering they fought to the end.”
Norwood said the Golden Wave have to be solid in their sets because they don’t have a lot of size. Tupelo makes up the lack of height by spreading the floor and being patient. Norwood said his players know their roles and are willing to share the basketball to get results. That mind-set was on display in the fourth quarter, as the Golden Wave missed only two shots from the field and had five players score.
“That’s what we are working toward, and we talk about it every day in practice,” Norwood said. “We want to execute and only take the shots we want to take. Kids want to score, so it is tough to have the discipline to take the ones where you feel good, feel balanced, and feel like you are in a groove and take it instead of taking it because you are open because all of your friends are saying, ‘Shoot it, shoot it.’
“The only way we can do it is together. I have a couple of guys who probably can average 18 or 20 points, but we aren’t going to go very far. The only way we can do it is together. If we can’t get it together, we’re not going to be able to do it. Most of the time they have been pretty good about it.”
Griffin hopes Columbus can take the lessons learned from the loss and put them to use Tuesday night. He said it is tough on Woodard II, who had 13 points Friday night, because he attracts so much attention and usually doesn’t get the benefit of the doubt on foul calls on the offensive end because he is so strong. But Griffin said it was equally tough on a night that Tupelo shot the ball really well against the zone.
“We tried to keep the ball out of the paint,” Griffin said. “But one thing our guys have to learn is to recognize shooters. If a guy makes a shot or two shots, you have to realize you have to get out on him. That is part of being an experienced basketball player, which comes with time on the floor.”
That time on the floor bodes well for Harris, who is someone Griffin said he will continue to push to get better. He said Harris is a “scorer” who can deliver like he did Friday night. He hopes to see more of that Tuesday night against Clinton.
On the girls side, Columbus coach Yvonne Hairston hopes her team can break out to a faster start Tuesday. The Golden Wave used a 15-0 run to start the second quarter to build a 30-9 lead. They led 41-20 at halftime.
Columbus didn’t hit its first field goal in the second quarter until there was 2:04 left before halftime.
But Columbus crept back into the game as it started to attack the basket. In the first half, the Lady Falcons appeared to be tentative, which Hairston said went against the team’s game plan.
“I don’t think we were as aggressive as we needed to be,” Hairston said. “Then we got in foul trouble and the whistles just weren’t going our way, but we never gave up. We kept fighting.”
Columbus cut Tupelo’s lead to 48-38 by the end of the third quarter. The Lady cut the deficit to six twice in the first four-plus minutes of the final quarter before getting as close as 59-56 on a drive by White with 1:02 remaining.
But Sherer had 11 of her points in the fourth quarter to help the Golden Wave seal the deal. Tupelo was 13 of 16 from the free-throw line in the final eight minutes. Two Columbus players fouled out.
“You can’t give them 21 and try to come back and win the ballgame,” Hairston said. “We lost the ballgame, so we just have to try to win the game on Tuesday.
“I think the whistles didn’t go our way and we got some calls early, so we had to make some adjustments as to some stuff we were doing on the floor. Tupelo hits some big shots and we were missing ours. I feel like we’re a better team and I believe in God’s plan, so maybe this is the route He wanted us to take to get us where we want to get. I just have to keep believing that.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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