ITTA BENA — There’s only one word to summarize the start of Wednesday night’s Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 5A state quarterfinal game for New Hope: nightmare.
Yazoo City came out firing and the Trojans were ice cold, resulting in a quick 13-0 deficit in the first quarter.
At half, it was a 14-point deficit and from there, the damage had already been done.
New Hope’s inability to cut into the lead, compiled with Yazoo City’s sharp shooting from the perimeter was a recipe for disaster in Itta Bena as the Trojans plans for a state-title run ended abruptly in the quarterfinals in a 56-32 blowout loss.
“Any time you get down, especially to them, they execute well offensively and defensively,” New Hope head coach Drew McBrayer said. “They made some shots out of the gate and were just going through the motions and got behind. You can’t do that against Yazoo City. I’ve played them too many times and you cannot get behind.”
Spotting any team a baker’s dozen points to begin a game only spells disaster, but New Hope (26-3) didn’t help itself, either, running into serious foul trouble in the first half.
Two of its top three scorers, Isaace Grady and Marius Mosley, both picked up their third foul in the second quarter, forcing them to ride the bench for some significant minutes in the second and third quarters.
Grady ended up fouling out in the fourth, finishing with just two points overall.
“Isaace being in foul trouble and Morse being in foul trouble in the first half both hurt,” McBrayer said. “It made it even more difficult to score on the other end of the floor.”
While Yazoo City only made five three-pointers in the game, it came out of the gates early, hitting three in the first quarter.
From there, it dominated the paint, penetrating the lane as New Hope desperately tried to fend off the three.
The Trojans were playing checkers while Yazoo City was playing chess.
“You had to come through screens, come out there with a hand up and hope they miss it,” junior Wilton Bush said. “It was hard. We fought back in that first half. We had to just keep fighting back and we tried our best. Just wasn’t our day.”
New Hope won 26 games this season but came up empty in their quest for the state title. Bush is among a cast of Trojans returning for next season who will undoubtedly be looking for revenge..
“We’re very confident,” Bush said. “This right here, this is just motivating us. These past two years, it’s just motivating us. Us seniors next year, we’re coming back hard. It’s the only thing we can do.”
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