MPSA AA State Tournament

AA State semi-finals set for Friday
By Darron Thomas
The Bowling Green Buccaneers advanced to the semi-finals of the AA State Tournament last night in Brookhaven, Mississippi for the second consecutive year with a hard fought 55-49 win over Marshall Academy.
Bowling Green would jump out to an early 8-0 lead behind the torrid shooting of senior guard Andrew Wood who nailed two 3-pointers and a 10 foot jumper from the baseline in the first minute and a half of the opening quarter. Marshall would notch their first basket at the 4:51 mark on a Caleb Martin 12 footer. Bowling Green would finish the first quarter with a Jaron Edwards floater in the paint and two Shod Fortenberry jumpers to push the Buc’s lead to 14-3 after one quarter of play.
Marshall got right back into the contest as they started the second quarter with a 6-2 run to trim the Patriot deficit to 16-9 with just under six minutes left in the second quarter. After a Jaron Edwards transition bucket, Marshall’s Jake Omedeo grabbed an offensive rebound and converted a bucket of his own to keep the Patriots close at 18-11 with 4:05 left in the half. Both squads would trade 3-point baskets with Andrew Wood nailing one from the corner and Jake Omedeo of Marshall sinking one with two minutes left and the score 21-14. Andrew Wood of Bowling Green drained his thirteenth point of the half on a 15 footer from the baseline with 4 seconds remaining in the opening half to give the Buccaneers a 23-14 lead. (Above) Marshall's Jordan Brock attempts a shot over Bowling Green's Buster Brown
Marshall stormed out in the opening minutes of the third quarter with a 9-0 run to tie things up at 23-23 with 5:35 left in the third quarter. Bowling Green went back up 25-23 on their next possession on a 17 foot Jaron Edwards jumper. At the 2:49 mark of the quarter Marshall would grab their first lead of the game with a John Tomlinson basket off a Bowling Green turnover to give the Patriots a 30-29 lead. In the last two minutes of the quarter there would be six lead changes with neither team able to build more than a one point cushion. Marshall finished the quarter on a Taylor Maurey basket to give the Patriots a 36-35 lead heading into the final quarter.
Marshall’s hopes of pulling an upset were dashed as Bowling Green opened the fourth quarter by going on a 10-0 run to put the Bucs up 45-36 with 5:40 left in the game. In that 10-0 run Bowling Green got critical points from the bench as Dylan Varnado and Buster Brown combined for eight of the ten. Marshall answered with five straight points to pull to within four at 45-41 at the halfway point of the final quarter but would get no closer as Bowling Green maintained a least a four point advantage throughout the final four minutes. The Buccaneers got baskets from Dylan Varnado and Andrew Wood in crunch time during those final minutes to preserve the first round win and a slot in Friday’s semi-finals.
Bowling Green was led by senior Andrew Wood with 17 points, junior Dylan Varnado added 12, junior Jaron Edwards had 11, Shod Fortenberry and Buster Brown 6 each, and Blake McGehee had 2.
Taylor Maurey led Marshall with 12 points, Caleb Byrd added 11, Chase Ferrell, Joey Omedeo, and John Tomlinson had 8 each, and Aaron McAlexander had 2.
Bowling Green (29-5) will battle Chamberlain-Hunt (19-7) Friday at 6:00pm. This will be a rematch of last Friday’s semi-final game at AA South State in Gallman, Mississippi in which Bowling Green stopped Chamberlain-Hunt 57-44. The winner will advance to Saturday’s AA State Championship game.


The Chamberlain-Hunt Cadets punched their first ever AA State semi-final ticket on Wednesday night with a nail-biting 51-49 win over the Canton Panthers. The Cadets will match up with Bowling Green on Friday at 6:00pm.
Chamberlain-Hunt’s 7 footer David Hahn got the Cadets on the board on their first possession as he muscled to the basket for an easy lay-in. Canton’s patient and deliberate offense in the first quarter slowed the game down to a snail’s crawl and was painful to watch from a fan’s perspective but it proved to be effective as the game wore on. The Panthers got a Davin Riebock 3-pointer with almost four minutes gone in the opening quarter to go up 3-2. David Hahn would put CHA back on top at 4-3 at the 4:30 mark and the big man would convert on a basket plus one with 1:49 left to give the Cadets a 7-3 lead. Davin Riebock’s steal and bucket with 43 seconds remaining would close out the first quarter with Canton trailing 7-5. (Above) Chamberlain-Hunt center David Hahn caused match up problems for Canton
The second quarter pace picked up just a bit as Canton scored the first four points to take their first lead at 9-7 with one minute gone in the quarter. David Hahn then began taking over as the Wildcat’s center netted ten of the team’s twelve second quarter points. Two of those points were highlighted by a smooth turnaround jump hook at the 5:17 mark of the quarter. Chamberlain-Hunt would take a 19-15 lead into halftime.
The second half would exhibit one of the better performances of the tournament as Canton senior Davin Riebock poured in 20 points to keep his Panthers close. After Riebock opened the second half with a basket to pull Canton to within one at 19-18, Chamberlain-Hunt put together a 10-1 run culminating on a David Hahn jumper from the elbow to go up 29-19 with just under two minutes left in the third quarter. Senior point guard Josh McNair of CHA would foul out with 1:08 left in the quarter and Canton would close out the remaining minute with a free throw and a Riebock 3-pointer from the corner to trail 31-25 entering the final quarter of play.
Chamberlain-Hunt got their biggest lead of the night at 40-30 on an Ifanyi Uzuegbunum basket plus one with 6:10 left in the game. Canton then scored nine straight points to pull to within one at 40-39 with 4:30 remaining. After an Uzuegbunum bucket put CHA up 42-39, Canton’s Riebock would nail another 3-pointer with four minutes left in the quarter to knot things up at 42-42. Four David Hahn free throws and a Chase Deculus deuce would put the Cadets back up 48-42 with three minutes left. With the score 50-44 Davin Riebock drained another 3-pointer from the wing to pull the Panthers to within three with two minutes left in the game. After two missed free throws from Chamberlain-Hunt the margin would be trimmed to 50-49 on an Eddie Drane floater in the paint just over the fingertips of center David Hahn with 1:08 left. Both squads would trade turnovers and with CHA in possession Canton fouled Chase Deculus with 3 seconds remaining. Deculus converted on one of two free throws to give the Cadets a 51-49 lead with 3 seconds left. Canton then called a timeout to set up a last second attempt to win. Those last 3 seconds had to be the longest 3 seconds for Cadets head coach David Granville as he watched a perfectly designed inbounds play that got the ball into Riebock’s hands on Canton’s end of the court. The shot from six feet beyond the three point line fell just short as Chamberlain-Hunt escaped with a narrow 51-49 win to advance. (Above) Chamberlain-Hunt's Chase Deculus gets rejected by Canton's Eddie Drane
David Hahn led Chamberlain-Hunt with 23 points, Chase Deculus added 15 (13 in the 2nd half), Ifanyi Uzuegbunum had 9, Josh McNair and Jalen Ellington with 2 each.
Canton was led by Davin Riebock with 29 points (six 3-pointers), Michael Jerome added 9, Eddie Drane had 6, Chaz Dickens 3, and John Willis 2.

In girls action from yesterday the Brookhaven Lady Cougars reached familiar territory once again as they advanced to the final four with a tough 48-40 win over the Indianola Lady Colonels. Coach Barry Gray’s squad broke a 6-6 tie at the two minute mark of the opening quarter on a Terah Winborne 3-pointer followed by a Nicole Smith basket to finish out the first quarter with a 11-6 advantage. (Above) Brookhaven's Anna Mangold
Indianola’s Jordan Dodson opened the second quarter by hitting three straight baskets to give the Lady Colonels a 12-11 lead with 5:25 left in the quarter. In a quarter that produced seven lead changes and one tie Brookhaven would go up 21-17 on a Laura Beth Wright basket with just under two minutes left in the half. A Kelsey Kovarcik 3-pointer with 8 seconds to go pull Indianola to within two points at 22-20, but Brookhaven’s Anna Lofton sank two free throws with 1 second left to push the Lady Cougar lead to 24-20 at halftime.
Brookhaven would grab their biggest at 26-20 on an Anna Mangold bucket with 6:50 left in the third quarter. The Lady Cougars would head into the final quarter with a slim 34-29 lead. A 9-0 run to start the final quarter quickly extended the Brookhaven lead to 43-29 and at the 2:02 mark of the quarter Indianola’s Swayze Carithers would get the Lady Colonels back to within eight points at 45-37. Brookhaven senior Nicole Smith would convert on critical free throws down the stretch as the Lady Cougars advanced with a 48-40 win. Nicole Smith led Brookhaven with 14 points, Terah Winborne added 11, Anna Lofton and Anna Mangold had 8 each, Laura Beth Wright had 6 points along with 13 rebounds, and Marion Allen had 1.
Indianola was led by Jordan Dodson with 12 points, Courtney Wilson had 9, Kelsey Kovarcik 6, Swayze Carithers 4, Lauren Leard 3, and Alex Domino, Carson Vickers, and Beth Jolly had 2 each.

Brookhaven improved to 34-5 and will play #1 ranked Leake on Friday at 2:15pm.
Indianola finishes out the season at 32-8.

In the first contest of the day the Prairie View Lady Spartan’s quest for a state championship ended as the Marshall Lady Patriots came from behind to earn a 37-34 win and a slot in the semi-finals.
Prairie View got out to their trademark fast start and took a 10-5 led into the second quarter. A Caroline Oliphant 3-pointer with just over one minute remaining in the half extended the Lady Spartan’s lead to 20-10, but Marshall would close the half with a 3-pointer of their own to pull back to within seven at 20-13 heading into the second half. (Above) Prairie View's Caroline Oliphant puts up a shot in the final seconds
Marshall slowly inched their way back into the game in the third quarter and at the 5:04 mark a Traci Rodgers bucket trimmed the deficit to 28-24. After a Logan Tubbs offensive rebound and put back put Prairie View up 31-24, Marshall would score the next ten points and take a 34-31 lead with just over one minute left in the game. Prairie View pulled to within one point at 34-33 on a Jerri Ann Lord basket with 34 seconds remaining and Marshall’s Traci Rodgers was fouled and converted on one of two free throws to give the Lady Patriots a two point lead at 35-33. Prairie View’s Caroline Oliphant was fouled while attempting to tie things up but missed the second of two free throws with 9 seconds left in the game. Two Emily Burk free throws sealed up the Lady Patriots 37-34 win and a slot in Friday’s semi-final action. Senior Traci Rodgers had a game high 21 points to lead Marshall, Callie Clanton and Emily Burk had 5 each, and Kelsey Shaw added 3.
For Prairie View, Caroline Oliphant had 14 points, Lena Kate Thompson and Logan Tubbs had 7 each, Jerri Ann Lord, Kalynn Osbon, and Catherine Coats had 2 each.
Marshall improved to 31-8 and will play Oak Forest on Friday at 1:00pm.
Prairie View ended their season with a 33-6 record.