West Harrison picks a good time to have peak performance

West Harrison got its first win over Long Beach this season after losing to them three times. The game was won in the last 90 seconds as the Hurricanes held on for a 55-49 win in the first round of the Region 8-5A Tournament on Tuesday.

The Hurricanes led most of the way and extended their lead to as many as 15 points early in the third quarter, but the Bearcats kept gnawing at the the Hurricanes’ lead, pulling within 10 points at 51-41 with just over two minutes to play.

From that point, the Bearcats went on an 8-0 run to pull within within (51-49) with 33 seconds remaining on the clock.

The ball would bounce in favor of the Hurricanes the rest of the way as they capitalized on their own missed free throw with a rebound and put-back by Adhore Price to make it a two possession game with 15 ticks remaining.

“Our defense was on. We flat out defended tonight,” West Harrison coach Tommy Searight said. “We played hard, gave good effort and passed the ball well tonight.

“Anytime you’re playing a district rivalry game, everybody is going to play hard. Nobody is going to quit. Everybody believes that they can beat you,” Searight said of the effort of Long Beach to make it a close game at the end. “I knew they were going to give us their best shot. We took their best shot on the chin. We started turning the ball over. We got rattled, but congratulations to those guys for staying poised and calm at the end.”

Quieran Gray led the Hurricanes with 23 points. Desmond McDaniel Jr. and Price each contributed 11 points. Montay Davis led Long Beach with 22 points and Jaidon Evans scored 12.

The win guarantees West Harrison a playoff spot. The ‘Canes will meet Gautier in the Region 8-5A championship game on Friday night.

Long Beach will meet Pascagoula in the third place game Thursday night for a chance to play in the playoffs.

Pascagoula girls 49, Long Beach 25

Pascagoula outscored the Lady Bearcats 12-1 in the first quarter. That margin ended up being too much for the Lady Bearcats to overcome in the 49-25 decision.

Jodi McCleod sank two 3-pointers in the last minute and 17 seconds of the third quarter to put the Lady Bearcats within 16 points (33-17), but that’s as close as they would come as the Lady Panthers rallied to a 15-2 run right after that.

“I wasn’t really happy with our performance, but obviously we will take the win,” Pascagoula coach Crisla Herchenhahn said. “Now we’re in the playoffs regardless of what happens on Friday. That’s sets us up Friday for the championship, which is one of our team goals. Everything from there, we’ve just got to play better.

“... We had 50 possessions and 20 points. That’s not good math if you figure we can get two every time. And then we had 13 turnovers. So for me, we like the number of possessions. It’s just the outcomes.”

The Lady Panthers have some momentum going into the championship after winning nine of their last ten games. They won nine in a row before losing to Moss Point last Friday.

The Lady Panthers were led by Alexis McBeth with 18 points.

Gautier 48, Pascagoula 44

Gautier kept the game within reach for most of the second half against Pascagoula in their Region 8-5A opening round game. Deonta Lawler scored seven points within the last minute and a half to lead Gautier past top seeded Pascagoula.

Lawler led Gautier with 17 points. DJ Johnson added 16 points. Daquan Weatherspoon led Pascagoula scorers with 13 points. D’yasmond Booker added 10 points.

Gautier will play West Harrison in the Region 8-5A tournament on Friday. Pascagoula will play Long Beach for third place and a playoff spot.

West Harrison girls 31, Gautier 21

The Lady Hurricanes led 24-15 after three quarters and held off the Lady Gators for a chance to play in the Region 8-5A championship game on Friday. Alanah Turner led the Lady Gators with 11 points and Deajah Jackson added 8 points.

This story was originally published February 14, 2017 at 11:55 PM with the headline "West Harrison picks a good time to have peak performance."