Early in the fourth quarter, New Hope High School senior Jaylon Bardley and his teammates had seen enough.

“We knew we had to pick it up or we were going to lose the game,” Bardley said. “On defense, we were bad for a long time. We didn’t play with the defensive intensity we needed to until the fourth quarter. In the fourth quarter, we were really good.”

Blowing open a tight game in the final six minutes, the New Hope boys basketball team defeated West Point 72-57 in a Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 5A, Region 2 matchup Tuesday night in Columbus.

New Hope was playing four days after a hard-fought loss at Saltillo — its first setback in region play. While the Trojans missed a chance to clinch the region’s top seed in that game, they will have a chance Friday to do it again when they play at Oxford.

“It was not one of our better efforts,” New Hope coach Drew McBrayer said, “but we settled down and found a way to win a region game. Now it is sets up the big one Friday night for the top seed in the region. We just wanted to be in that position. We did enough in this game to make sure we are in that position.”

The win pushed New Hope to 4-1 in the region, while Oxford and Saltillo are 3-2. A win would give the Trojans the top seed in the region tournament, which begins Feb. 17 in West Point. A win by Oxford would send the three teams into a tiebreaker for the top three seeds in the region.

“We know we will have to play better Friday (against Oxford),” New Hope senior Demyis Mayberry said. “We will be excited and ready to play. We know they will be coming after us because we won the first meeting. We just have to guard against a letdown and go up there and play really well.”

New Hope (17-6) played well in spurts. Similar to the first series meeting — a 77-64 win in West Point — New Hope built an early lead and was never in any real danger.

A 3-pointer by Shemar Johnson gave Trojans a 12-6 advantage. Strong play by juniors Willie Ousley and Toddy Jennings kept the early momentum going. Ousley hit a 3-pointer and Jennings scored a putback in the lane to highlight a 7-0 run that made it 24-11.

West Point (9-11, 0-5) scored the next eight points. The Green Wave continued to hang tough, thanks in large part to a lethargic effort on the defensive end for New Hope.

“We just didn’t have energy at all on the defensive end,” Bardley said. “We weren’t staying with our man or executing our assignments. Offensively, we had a good game. We did the things that we are capable of doing. Defense is something we have to work on. We have to better on that end but it is something we can get fixed.”

Mayberry hit all three free throws after being fouled on a 3-pointer. Bardley followed with a 3-point play to help New Hope rebuild an 11-point advantage. West Point closed within 35-28 at halftime.

“We competed and fought hard,” West Point coach Brad Cox said. “In the second half, we couldn’t match their intensity. We couldn’t keep up there in the fourth quarter when they turned up the intensity on defense.”

In the second half, Ecurb Forest and Randle Johnson kept the Green Wave afloat. Johnson scored a putback to bring his squad within 51-44 with 7:15 left.

From there, New Hope dominated, as five steals highlighted a 12-0 run. Bardley scored six points, Mayberry had four, and Shemar Johnson brought a packed student section to its feet with a rim-rattling dunk.

“In the fourth quarter, we made some plays and pulled it out,” Mayberry said. “The guys knew it was time to play some more intensity and we pushed it up a level. It shouldn’t be that way. We need to play that way the whole game. It was a good win and we had to have it (after last Friday night), because we want to run the district and be that No. 1 seed.”

Terryonte Thomas led New Hope with 16 points, including a 12-of-18 night at the free-throw line. Similar to the first meeting, New Hope went inside at ease and Thomas imposed his will to get to the line on a regular basis.

Bardley and Mayberry added 14 points, while Johnson had three dunks and 13 points.

“We have to play better and we know that,” McBrayer said. “Disappointed in the effort but proud with the outcome. Now we have to get ready for a big game Friday night.”

Forest paced West Point with 27 points, while Johnson added 10.

Girls

n West Point 51, New Hope 46: In the opener, the Lady Wave also completed a season sweep.

West Point (13-12, 3-2) built a 12-point lead but had to withstand a late New Hope rally after leading scorer Qiayon Bailey fouled out with less than three minutes remaining.

West Point can clinch the region No. 2 seed Friday by defeating Saltillo at home. A loss would force a tiebreaker to determine the second and third seeds.

“It was a tough, road win,” West Point coach Dash Daniels said. “We did a good job of getting to the foul line and did a better job against their pressure defense. We were able to get the ball into the front court and run out offense.”

West Point led 23-22 at halftime and trailed by five points to start the third quarter before using a 10-0 run to regain the lead. The Lady Wave built the lead, but saw the strong play of New Hope’s Alex Melton and LaClaudia Keaton helped cut the deficit to 43-42.

Seconds after a basket by Lanoria Abrams brought New Hope back within a point, Bailey fouled out. However, the Lady Wave hit 6 of 7 free throws the rest of the way to close out the win.

Abrams paced New Hope (3-21, 0-5) with 12 points.

Follow Dispatch sports writer Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott

Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.