Picayune stops McComb Tigers 50-29

by Carey Meitzler

Taking on the highly touted McComb Tigers who came in ranked 6th in the latest statewide pool in an elimination game, the

Picayune Maroon Tide used a dominating second half surge and pulled away for an easy 50-29 win at the Boys 4A South State

tournament at Pass Christian.

Chris Dees scoring two points in the first quarter and then he gets two more of his 21 in the third quarter vs McComb.

Early on, Picayune looked to be in for a long night as McComb jumped out to an early 7-2 advantage.  The Maroon Tide fought

back to take the lead behind junior forward Chris Dees.  Dees scored on a short jumper, a dunk on a perfect alley oop pass from

Wayne Mickel, and then made two free throws to put Picayune up 8-7 with 2:36 left in the first quarter.  Otis Smith put the Tigers

back on top 10-8 with his second three pointer. Picayune's David McClain answered with a three ball of his own to give the

Maroon Tide a 11-10 lead.  Defredick White made one of two free throws for McComb to tie the score at 11-11.

David McClain (left) looks inside for Chris Dees (15) in the first quarter against McComb.

McComb started the second quarter with a bucket from Akeem Williams to take their last lead at 13-11.  McClain drained his

second three pointer with 6:19 left to put Picayune up14-13.  Picayune would never trail again.

The Maroon Tide got an old fashioned three point play from Dees on an assist from McClain and a lay up from Brandon

Fortenberry to lead 19-13 with 1:32 left.  McComb scored the last four points of the quarter on two free throws by

Anthony Daniels and a driving lay up by White to close it to 19-17 at the half.

Picayune dominated the third quarter behind the play of Dees and Fortenberry. Fortenberry drove the lane and scored early

in the third quarter.  With 5:00 left, Dees missed both free throws after being fouled, but Ben Daly took the rebound away from

a McComb player and dished it to Fortenberry for lay up giving Picayune a 23-17 lead.  Ricardo Brown scored for McComb

on a put back of his own missed shot to make it 23-19. After a free throw by McComb's Rottedrick Cotton, Dees converted

on another three point play in the lane and Wayne Mickel scored on a lay up for a 27-20 lead with 2:57 left.  McComb got a

bucket from Daniels on a short jumper, but Picayune responded with a short jumper by Dees with 2:13 left.  With 1:02 left,

Dees was fouled with 1:02 left.  He missed the free throw, but again Picayune got the rebound, this time by Fortenberry, and

he was eventually fouled and made one of two free throws for a 32-22 lead with :48 left.  Fortenberry scored on another driving

lay up with :01 left to give the Maroon Tide a 34-22 lead.

Picayune pulled away in the fourth quarter behind six points from Dees and six for six free throw shooting from Fortenberry.

Brandon Fortenberry (4) directs traffic for Picayune as he is guarded by Rottedrick Cotton (24).

Dees led all scorers with 21 points and he grabbed 11 rebounds.  Fortenberry finished with 17 points, 4 assists, and

4 rebounds. McClain had 6 points on two three pointers. Ben Daly pulled down 5 rebounds and blocked a shot.

Smith finished with 10 points and Rottedrick Cotton, Anthony Daniels, and Ricardo Brown each had 4 points for

McComb.

Picayune (28-5) will face Laurel, a 49-46 winner over Port Gibson, in the semi-finals at 6:00pm on Friday.

McComb finishes the year with a record of 28-6.

Score by quarters: