Maroon Tide Clips War Eagles 53-43

Lady Tide comeback not enough to overtake N.E. Jones;

Dedrea Magee finishes career with 33 points in 69-64 loss (Click Here)

by Carey Meitzler

Facing their second top five 4A opponent of the week, the #3 ranked

Picayune Maroon Tide defeated the #4 ranked Wayne County War

Eagles 53-43 to advance to the South State Class 4A semi-finals at

McComb.  The Maroon Tide now must win on either Friday or

Saturday to advance to the Boys Championship round in Jackson.

Wayne County jumped to a 9-0 lead before Alan Moran put Picayune

on the scoreboard with a 3 pointer with 4:21 left in the quarter.  After a 

War Eagle bucket by Jherico Davis, Moran drained another trey to make

it 11-6.  Brandon Fortenberry made two free throws with :13 left to make

it 16-10 after one quarter.

Picayune scratched back to within 22-20 on a Chris Griffith lay up on an

assist from Randy "Rooster" Perkins with 2:51 left in the second quarter. 

Wayne County got a lay up from Eamon Moriority with :04 left to lead

24-20 at the half. 

On the first possession of the third quarter, Perkins stole the ball at

mid-court and raced in for a lay up to make it 24-22.  Wayne County's

Dandy Dozen forward David Howard and Picayune's Chris Griffith traded

buckets on consecutive possessions which made the score 28-26 Wayne

County with 6:21 on the clock.   Picayune's Darionne Jones tied the game

at 28-28 with a put back of a missed Maroon Tide shot as he leaped high

about the rim and gently dropped in the lay up with 5:45 left.

After stopping Wayne County on their next possesion, Perkins drove the

lane and scored on a lay up for Picayune's first lead at 30-28 with 4:58

left in the third quarter.  Howard tied it with two free throws and Griffith

followed with the same feat to put the Maroon Tide up 32-30.  Wayne

County responded when Howard scored, was fouled, and converted the

free throw to put the War Eagles up 33-32.  Chazz Hawkins hit a long

3 pointer that was answered by Wayne County's Ledgett Glover with

2:40 left to give the War Eagles their last lead at 36-35.  After a Picayune

timeout, Chris Dees got a short jumper from the baseline to fall in for a

37-36 margin and moments later Brandon Fortenberry hit a tough running

shot to put Picayune up 39-36 with :50 left.  Howard scored with :34 left

to make it 39-38, but missed a free throw that would have tied it.

Perkins scored on a lay up to start the fourth quarter and Hawkins hit

another long 3 pointer to put Picayune up 44-38.  Howard cut it to 44-40

with his last points of the night.  Picayune's defense took over at this point

allowing the War Eagles only three free throws the last six minutes of the game. 

After a series of missed shots and turnovers by both teams,  Perkins hit two

free throws with 2:53 left and Fortenberry followed with lay up off a steal to

spark a 13-4 Picayune run to make it 48-40 with 1:35 left.   Fortenberry

added two free throws with 1:17 left that made it 50-42.  Perkins converted

two free throws with :33 left and Hawkins made one of two with :20 left to

ice it for the Maroon Tide.

Perkins finished with 12 points, 10 in the second half.  Fortenberry had

10 points off the bench.  Hawkins had 9 points and Griffith tallied 8 points . 

Alan Moran finished with 7 points and Darionne Jones had 5 points and

6 rebounds. Chris Dees had 2 points to round out the scoring for Picayune.

When asked what he told his squad at half time trailing 24-20, Head Coach

Dean Shaw  said,

"I just told them, fellows, this may be our last 16 minutes and we've got to

suck it  up and play as hard as we can and they did."

Davis led Wayne County (24-6) with 20 points.  Jherico Davis had 13 points,

all in the first half.

Picayune (25-5) will play the host McComb Tigers at 6:00pm on Friday.

McComb eliminated St Martin on Thursday.