Slow start dooms Pascagoula in 5A state quarterfinals
JACKSON - A rough first half proved too much for the Pascagoula boys basketball team to overcome.
Center Hill closed strong at the free throw line to hold off a red hot Pascagoula squad in the fourth quarter to pick up a 73-61 win Friday in the Class 5A quarterfinals at the Mississippi Coliseum.
Friday's game marked the sixth consecutive trip to Jackson for Pascagoula, but the Panthers are still seeking the program's first state title.
Pascagoula, ranked No. 1 by the Sun Herald, had its season come to a close with a 24-5 mark.
"We wanted to do something nobody has done," Pascagoula coach Ronald Norman said. "We wanted to be a team of firsts. We wanted to be the first one to win one up here.
"It's just a credit to our team, a team that wasn't picked to win our league and be where we are. We went up here and did that anyway. We came up short when we came north, but we'll keep fighting to try to win that elusive gold ball."
The Panthers struggled badly from the field in the first 16 minutes, hitting only 6-of-32 shots to help the Mustangs hold a 30-16 lead at halftime.
Pascagoula hit the court hot to start the second half with five 3-pointers in the third quarter.
With the help of 11 third-quarter points coming from Darius Johnson, the Panthers out-scored Center Hill 23-10 in the third quarter to cut the Center Hill advantage to 40-39 to start the fourth.
Center Hill started the fourth on a 7-0 run as the steady march to free throw line began for the Mustangs.
Center Hill hit 23-of-25 free throws in the second half and finished 36-of-41 for the game.
"We were 0-for-13 on 3-pointers. When we got the ball inside, we threw it back out," Norman said of his team's first half performance. "Then, they had a parade to the foul line. They didn't score a lot against our defense. We didn't make a bunch of shots, but they shot three times as many free throws as we did. We thought we were going in there, but all credit goes to them.
"They made the free throws, made plays, made shots. They handled the pressure. We dug ourselves too big of a hole. We were kind of off balance in the first half. We got open looks. We just didn't make them. It just falls that way sometimes."
For Center Hill, it was a matter of avoiding the collapse it had last year in a quarterfinal loss to Laurel by the score of 72-60.
Laurel out-scored Center Hill, 32-15, in the fourth quarter last year.
Center Hill out-scored Pascagoula, 33-22, in the fourth quarter on Friday.
"We let Laurel come back on us in the fourth quarter when we got here last year," Center Hill coach Newton Mealer said. "So our goal, if we got back here this year, was to finish the game. I was proud of the way our guys did that. We made 36 of 41 from the free throw line, and you're going to win a lot of games when you do that."
Johnson led Pascagoula with 18 points after failing to register a point in the first half. He made 4-of-7 3-pointers in the second half after going 0-for-5 in the first half.
"He came back and responded and played well," Norman said. "I'm real proud of my kids. It's an empty trip here, but I'll take it for as long as I'm at Pascagoula.
"The kids are already talking bout, 'I'm going to get you back.' That's all you can ask for from these kids. I'm not going to be mad at my kids. We enjoyed the journey, the process. One day, we're going to get over the hump."
Senior forward Jacques Belford had a nice afternoon in the post for Pascagoula with 14 points and nine rebounds. Fellow senior Illyan Scott added five points and nine rebounds.
Center Hill's Job Vernor hit 15-of-16 free throws on his way to a game high of 24 points.
Jordon Lee added 22 points for the Mustangs (23-7).
Center Hill will play the winner of Oxford-Wayne County at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Class 5A semifinals at the Mississippi Coliseum.
This story was originally published March 4, 2016 at 7:25 PM with the headline "Slow start dooms Pascagoula in 5A state quarterfinals ."