NEW HOPE — L.J. Hackman poured in 32 points, converting his last 10 attempts from the free throw line, as the New Hope High School boys basketball team fended off a late Saltillo rally to claim a 65-58 victory on Friday night in the MHSAA Class 5A, Region 1 title game.
The win marked the third consecutive region title for New Hope and fifth in the past six seasons.
The Trojans looked great early, taking a quick 9-4 lead and extending it to 20-8 at the end of the first quarter as Hackman scored 11 points during the first 8 minutes, including a dunk off of a pass from Caleb Parr after a steal.
“I thought we did a much better job coming out in the first quarter and playing at our pace,” New Hope coach Drew McBrayer said. “We made some shots in the first quarter, where we had been struggling a bit, coming out slow. So that was a big boost for us.”
“They didn’t come out hard like they usually play us,” Hackman said.
The Trojans had something to do with that, but from then on it was a fairly even game. After taking that 12-point lead after one quarter, the Trojans never led by more than 13 or fewer than six until the fourth quarter.
“We had the big lead, came down, pushed the ball hard, kept pushing, everybody passing the ball, making shots, rebounding,” Hackman said. “Coach told us to keep pushing.”
But after Parr scored on a beautiful drive early in the fourth to make it 48-39, the Tigers started putting things together. They scored eight consecutive points in less than 2 minutes, and when Matthew Armstrong hit both ends of a one-and-one at the 3:52 mark, New Hope’s lead was just 48-47.
“They didn’t get here for no reason,” Parr said.
“They’re a good basketball team, and they’re well coached,” McBrayer said. “Their big kid does a good job of getting position in there, and their guards are really solid. They’re 20-5 for a reason.”
The Tigers are now 20-6, because once it got close, New Hope looked like New Hope again. McBrayer credited his team’s execution of the half-court press.
“We got a couple of easy baskets, and Matt (Stennis) hit a big 3 on the wing over here that kind of pushed it back out,” he said.
On the possession following Armstrong’s free throws, Stennis nailed a corner 3 to put the lead back to four and start a 9-2 run that basically settled the issue. The run was highlighted by a Stennis steal that led to a strong baseline move by Parr, who passed to Carson Latham for an easy layup. Hackman hit four free throws during the run — he hit 12 of 15 for the game as the Trojans shot 18 of 23 overall — and the closest the Tigers got after that was the final score.
Parr was named the region’s player of the year. While the Trojans were clearly the best team in 5A-1, there were a lot of good players among the four teams, and Parr edged out his own teammate for the award.
“It was going to come down to him and LJ, and it was a lot of intangible stuff, and how much he rebounds and things like that, that made him player of the year,” McBrayer said.
“It means a lot,” Parr said. “When I was in 10th grade, we had won district at Grenada, and I saw one of my teammates win it, I think it was R.L. or Jaylen, and I wanted to win one.”
Parr’s memory is outstanding. R.L. Mattix was the region player of the year in 2020, and Jaylen Smith was the region tournament MVP.
The Trojans earned a first-round bye in the MHSAA Class 5A tournament with the win, and they will face either Vicksburg or Neshoba Central at 7 p.m. Saturday. As the region’s No. 2 seed, Saltillo earned a first-round home game and will meet Greenville at 7 p.m. Tuesday for the right to face Holmes County on Saturday.
Columbus, which defeated West Point on Thursday in the third-place game, will travel to Lake Cormorant at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the opening round.
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