South State Champions...Again!
Maroon Tide overwhelms Long Beach 61-49
by Carey Meitzler
Just eight days ago, the Picayune Maroon Tide lost the Division 8-4A
championship game to Long Beach. Tonight, Picayune overwhelmed the
Bearcats 61-49 to capture the South State Championship at McComb's
Tiger Den.
After leading twice in the early minutes of the game, Picayune trailed 11-9
after the first quarter . Picayune came back to take the lead at 16-15 when
Randy "Rooster" Perkins snatched a rebound and went coast to coast down
the court for a spinning lay up, was fouled, and went to the foul line to shoot
a free throw. He missed, but Darionne "Smooth" Jones leaped high to get
the rebound and stuck in back in for a 18-15 lead with 5:35 left. Long
Beach came back with a 9-0 run to lead 24-18 with 3:35 left. Perkins
drew a foul on the Bearcats and made one of two free throws to stop the
run with 3:17 to play and start a Picayune 11-2 run. During the run, Picayune
got a put back on a rebound by Chazz Hawkins, a Perkins 3 pointer to tie
it at 24-24 with 1:52 left Long Beach's Joseph Burnett knocked home a
jumper to put them up 26-24. Hawkins then responded with a 3 pointer
with 1:15 to play to give Picayune a 27-26 lead at the half.
Picayune opened the third quarter with baskets by Hawkins and Jones to
lead 31-26. Long Beach responded with buckets from Owen McNally and
Jeremy Hill to pull within one at 31-30. Jones came back and hit another
basket for Picayune, but Hill hit a set shot 3 pointer to tie the game at 33-33
with 4:45 on the clock. After a free throw by the Bearcats Gardner, Perkins
hit another 3 pointer for Picayune to lead 36-34. Chris Griffith was fouled by
McNally and made two free throws and Brandon Fortenberry came right
back to score on a lay up on a nifty pass from Griffith to make it 40-34 with
2:40 left. McNally followed up a missed shot to make it 40-36. Griffith
answered on the other end with a put back of his own off a miss by Fortenberry.
Perkins stole the inbounds pass and converted a lay up to give the Maroon
Tide a 44-36 advantage with 1:38 to play. Fortenberry was fouled and made
one of two free throws with :57 left.
McNally scored a short jumper form the baseline on the other end of the court
to make it 45-38. Picayune played for the last shot and Jones drove past two
Long Beach defenders to score on a lay up with :03 for a 47-38 lead.
Chazz Hawkins hit one of two free throws for a 48-38 lead. Long Beach's
Greg Gardner scored for Long Beach to make it 48-40. Picayune held the
ball for the next two minutes before turning it over on an errant pass. Gardner
scored again, but Griffith had another rebound and put back for Picayune to
push the lead to 50-42 with 4:15 left. Burnett made a long 3 pointer and Hill
scored on a lay up to close the gap to 50-47. Picayune responded as Jones
scored, was fouled, and converted the free throw for 53-47 lead. Gardner was
fouled by Hawkins and converted both free throws for the Bearcats last points
of the game with 3:12 left. Fortenberry and Hawkins each made two free
throws down the stretch and Griffith made a lay up to seal the game for Picayune.
In the post game interviews with WRJW radio, the seniors, the team dedicated
this game to Mr. Danny Wheat, the Maroon Tide volunteer assistant who has
been absent this week due to an illness.
Coach Shaw himself was very emotional in his thoughts on Wheat and what he
means to the Maroon Tide basketball program.
"This was a tremendous group effort by everyone. Coach Pete (Peterson),
Coach Kennedy, and Mr. Wheat. I really miss him, bless his heart, I wish he
was here with us right now. You don't know how important he is to this
basketball program until you don't have him. Mr. Wheat, we love you and
our guys played their heart out for you tonight."
Picayune (27-5) was led by Perkins with 15 points and Griffith had 14 points
and 6 rebounds. Jones finished with 13 points and 7 rebounds. Hawkins
had 10 points, Fortenberry 5, and Moran 4 for Picayune.
Jeremy Hill led Long Beach (25-9) with 14 points and Greg Gardner
tallied 13 points. Owen McNally added 10 points.
Picayune will play on Friday, March 3rd at 8:00pm against the winner of the
Indianola Gentry and Terry game to be played on Monday. Long Beach
will play the third seed from the North which will either be Noxubee County
or New Hope.