9 Coast boys squads seek tickets to Jackson Saturday
Nine Saturday basketball playoff games featuring Coast boys squads will decide who makes trips to the state quarterfinals in Jackson next week.
Four teams from the state's southern most six counties will have the home court advantage with George County hosting Pearl, Terry at Gulfport, Brookhaven at Pascagoula and Lawrence County traveling to Pass Christian.
Pascagoula and Pass Christian appear to have the toughest draws with Lawrence County and Brookhaven both considered among the better teams in their classifications.
Both Pearl and Terry finished below .500 in region play this season, but won first-round games earlier this week to advance to Saturday.
Five other Coast squads will make difficult road trips Saturday with St. Martin at Meridian, Biloxi at Forest Hill, Long Beach at Laurel, West Harrison at Provine and Poplarville at McComb.
All of Saturday's games will tip off at 7 p.m.
Sun Herald No. 1 Pascagoula (23-4) is seeking its sixth straight trip to Jackson when it takes on a Brookhaven squad that is 22-4 with all of its losses coming to a pair of Jackson area powers, Wingfield amd Provine.
Pascagoula has won 13 consecutive games entering Saturday's contest.
"Oh man, we've probably got the toughest draw this year," Pascagoula coach Ronald Norman said. "Brookhaven is a team that's been ranked in the top 10 in the state. They're a really good basketball team."
Six-foot senior guard Lazorian McNulty leads Brookhaven in scoring with averages of 14.9 points and 3.2 rebounds a game, but Norman knows his team will have to account for much more than McNulty.
"They can play different styles and pressure you," Norman said. "They have three guards that can score. It's hard to scout them because you have to stop everybody in their rotation."
Pass Christian (25-6) plays host to a Lawrence County team that head coach Buddy Kennedy describes as "probably the best kept secret in South Mississippi."
Lawrence County is led by 6-foot-8 forward KeyShawn Feazell, a junior who holds offers from Alabama and Mississippi State.
Feazell is averaging 17.3 points and 8.6 rebounds a game this season.
"I think he's their second-leading 3-point shooter," Kennedy said. "He's going to present a big challenge for us because he'll go down and post up and step out and shoot the three. He's a good enough athlete to put the ball on the floor and go by you."
Lawrence County is 21-9 after beating Northeast Jones, 72-45, in the first round of the playoffs.
Gulfport (19-10) is seeking its first trip to Jackson since it won the Class 6A state championship in 2015 when it hosts Terry (16-11) at Bert Jenkins Gymnasium.
"We talk about (going to Jackson) all the time," Gulfport coach Owen Miller said. "Our goal each and every year is to get to Jackson. We've been talking about it since we lost last year. That's what we work for, what we play for. They know what's at stake."
Much like Gulfport, Terry has no dominant go-to man on the offensive end.
"They have different guys throughout the year that have stepped up and scored the ball," Miller said. "They're very good off the dribble so we've got to keep them in front of us. They've got guys inside that are not overly tall, but they're really bouncy. They run a halfcourt trap. We've got to attack that."
On its trip to Jackson to face Forest Hill (17-11), Biloxi (21-10) is seeking its first bid to Jackson since the 2011-12 season.
St. Martin (21-9) is seeking its second consecutive trip to Jackson, but it faces a difficult task at Meridian, which is 26-4 and one of the top teams in the state.
George County (16-6) will look to build on what has already been an impressive season that includes Region 7-6A championship when it hosts a Pearl squad that upset Brandon, 74-72, in the first round.
Long Beach, West Harrison and Poplarville are all heavy underdogs on their road trips against some of the best teams in their classifications.
This story was originally published February 26, 2016 at 4:19 PM with the headline "9 Coast boys squads seek tickets to Jackson Saturday ."