March 7 ,2008 Class 4A Boys State Championship
New Hope nips Maroon Tide 56-51 in Overtime
by Carey Meitzler
Jackson-- Undoubtedly the best two teams in Class 4A, and possibly in all classifications, battled for the Boys Championship
when New Hope and Picayune played here on Friday night at the Mississippi Coliseum. In fact, regulation time was not enough
to decide the outcome, but in the overtime period New Hope prevailed 56-51 in front of 4,000 plus fans.
Picayune jumped to a 10-4 lead, but New Hope tied with back to back three pointers from Kendrick Bush and Victor Payne,
the second one coming with :51 left. Justin Smith scored with :03 left on an assist from Brandon Fortenberry to give the Maroon
Tide a 12-10 lead after the first quarter.
Photo by Carey Meitzler
Daniel Kennedy (center kneeling) talks with his team during a timeout against New Hope.
New Hope opened the second quarter with a 7-0 run to lead 17-12 with 4:52 left. Picayune's Ben Daly scored on a scoop
shot to make it 17-14, but Dale Hughes scored to make it 19-14. Two free throws by the Tide's Reshun Smith and a lay up
by Chris Dees cut it to 19-18 with 2:10 left. After a basket by the Trojans Michale Payton, Justin Smith brought Picayune
to within one point with 1:40 left before Rashanti Harris' dunked gave New Hope a 23-20 halftime lead.
Fortenberry scored 6 points early in the third quarter that pushed Picayune ahead 26-25 wtih 5:21 left. After another dunk by
Harris, Dees scored to put Picayune up 28-27 with 4:32 left. Ray Knight countered with a three pointer for a 30-28 advantage
for New Hope. Justin Smith tied it on a short jumper on an assist from Fortenberry with 3:25 left. Fortenberry gave the Tide
a three point lead with a three-ball with just over two minutes left. Knight countered again with a three pointer with 1:07 left
to tie it at 33-33. Dees scored for Picayune and Payton for New Hope to send the game into the fourth quarter at 35-35.
Photo by Carey Meitzler
Brandon Fortenberry (4) skies up over everyone for two of his game high 20 points vs New Hope.
Harris scored on a dunk and was fouled, and then converted the free throw for a 38-35 lead for the Trojans.
Fortenberry was then fouled as he drove to the basket. Before he shot his free throws, New Hope was
issued a technical foul. Fortenberry made his two free throws from the initial foul and converted the technical
free throws to put Picayune up 39-38. Minutes later, he scored again to give the Tide a 41-38 lead wtih
2:25 left. He went back to the line with 2:05 left and missed the front-end of a one and one opportunity.
New Hope scored on a lay up, but missed a free throw with 1:53 left.
Leading 41-40, Dees hit two free throws with 1:24 left for a 43-40 lead. Harris was fouled and made one
of two free throws. Knight's lay up with :45 left would tie the game at 43-43. Both teams had chances to
score down the stretch, but neither was successful forcing the game into overtime.
In overtime, New Hope used 8-11 free throw shooting to pull out the win over Picayune. After falling
behind 48-43, David McClain drained a three pointer with 1:05 left to cut the lead to 49-46. After two
free throws by Knight, Fortenberry hit two with :50 left to keep the margin at three points, but the Trojans
secured the win at the charity stripe as Picayune was forced to foul in the waning seconds of the game.
Fortenberry had 20 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists for Picayune (33-5). Dees added 8 points and
5 rebounds while McClain had 7 points and 5 rebounds. Reshun Smith had 7 points and Justin Smith
had 6 points.
Harris lead the Trojans (29-8) with 16 points and 15 rebounds. Payton had 11 points and Knight
finished with 10 points. Dale Hughes, a Dandy Dozen selection along with Harris, who averaged near
20 points per game, was held to 8 points by Fortenberry.