FULTON — Things started about as well as New Hope fans could ask for Saturday night as the Trojans came out hot in the first quarter, taking an 11-point lead.
Playing against Canton in the quarterfinals of the MHSAA Class 5A playoffs, there wasn’t any room for error, and it certainly looked like, early on, a trip to Jackson for the state semifinals was in the cards.
However, for as fast a start as the Trojans had, the Tigers flipped the script once the second quarter started, going on an early 5-0 run and eventually taking a one-point lead into the half.
Whatever momentum New Hope had was snatched up and the game was turned on its head as Canton controlled much of the final three quarters of play, defeating the Trojans 43-29 at Itawamba Community College.
“The length in their defense, their zone defense, gave us some problems there,” New Hope head coach Drew McBrayer said. “I think we got rattled a little bit. We were pressing too much and we were going too fast when we should have slowed down, and we just had way too many turnovers.”
In what became a game of runs, the Trojans (19-8) couldn’t find that run to get themselves back into the game in the second half.
Canton switched into a zone defense beginning in the second quarter, and with the size that the Tigers possessed on the floor, it was not only difficult to run sets, but getting up good shot opportunities became near-impossible.
New Hope got outscored, 14-3, in that second quarter and beginning the second half, Canton went on another quick run, this time a 6-0 run, to stretch the lead to seven.
The Trojans did what they could to contain the deficit and cut into it, but the two teams began trading basket for basket in the third quarter.
“We came out strong with energy, hitting a lot of shots, but when they came out in that zone, it slowed us down, slowed our momentum down,” New Hope senior Matthew Stennis said. “That’s what it really came down to. We didn’t hit shots in the second half.”
Things got sloppy in the second half as Canton had a plethora of careless turnovers, most of them traveling violations, that gave New Hope plenty of opportunities to get itself back into the game.
It wasn’t that much prettier for the Trojans, who went ice cold from the floor, unable to make shots and adding turnovers of their own.
Once the fourth quarter came along, scoring from both teams was hard to come by, but Canton built up a nine-point lead with just over five minutes to play, a deficit that held up as New Hope came up with empty possessions and the Tigers were able to take more time off the clock.
“They were super dialed in on defense, using their length the right way,” Trojans freshman TJ Warren said.
It turned into a must-foul situation for the Trojans, just trying to find any way to cut into the deficit, but in a race with the clock, New Hope ran out of time.
The exclamation point came with around 25 seconds left in regulation, a blocked shot for Canton that turned into a breakaway dunk for De’Andre Lewis, sending the Tigers crowd at Davis Event Center into a frenzy.
The end result wasn’t what New Hope envisioned coming into Saturday’s game, but coming off another district title and with a plethora of young talent coming back, the Trojans are going to be ready for another state title run come next season.
“We just have to be ready to come back and work, use this feeling for next year,” Warren said.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 30 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 30 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
