Final View from the Big House

Lavel Johnson

March 7, 2023

The lights are turned off and the floor has been taken up at the Big House, as the 2022-2023 high school hoops season in Mississippi has come to its end, but before we close the book completely let’s review the week of action that comprised the semifinals and finals of the MHSAA basketball state tournament.

As always our first order of business is to give the state championship teams their due. This year’s state champions were:

6A Boys: Northwest Rankin                       

6A Girls: Germantown

5A Boys: Hattiesburg               

5A Girls: West Jones

4A Boys: Yazoo City                      

4A Girls: Louisville

3A Boys: Booneville             

3A Girls: Booneville

2A Boys: Coahoma County        

2A Girls: Lake

1A Boys: McEvans                       

1A Girls: Ingomar  

Congratulations to all the state champs.

Championship Notes:

The big storyline from this year’s state tournament, to me, is the collection of coaches who continued to build on their accomplishments at this year’s tournament.

We start with the coaches who continued to pile on the state titles as Anthony Carlyle of Yazoo City captured his 6th state title, Derrick Moore of Coahoma County captured his 5th title, Trent Adair of Ingomar captured his 5th title and Michael Smith of Booneville captured his fourth state title in the last two years and made history by becoming the first coach to win back to back titles with the boys and girls teams from the same school.

But to me the accomplishment that deserves special recognition belongs to Hattiesburg head coach Ernie Watson who captured his first Gold Ball. Watson, who is well respected in the Mississippi coaching ranks, has been one of the most successful coaches in Mississippi over the last 30+ years. He has bought his team to the Big House eighteen times and this was his fourth trip to a championship game. Along with Hattiesburg his other stops were Starkville, Jackson Provine, Meridian and Greenville, and he took each and every one of them to the Big House with championship game appearances at Provine, Meridian and Greenville. But the Gold Ball seemed to be always just outside his reach. This year, however, saw that quest come to and end as his Hattiesburg squad ended the season on a sixteen game winning streak and secured him the Gold Ball he so richly deserved.

It would be a great injustice on my part if I didn’t acknowledge West Jones girls coach Sharon Murray who captured her first title after three previous trips to the final game.

Congratulations and job well done to you all.

Now to our Tournament Awards:

Best Game: Hattiesburg 55 Picayune 50 5A Boys Championship Game

Unfortunately most of the championship games were decided early and produced little drama, but the 5A title game gave us quite a thrill. This game featured not one but two comebacks and was in doubt until the final minute.

Hattiesburg controlled the first half behind the strong play of senior forward Darrian Johnson and junior guard Stephen McCullom opening up as much as a thirteen point lead before settling for an eight point halftime advantage. Picayune came out and dominated the third quarter out scoring Hattiesburg 17-5 in the quarter to lead by four at the end of the third. Picayune maintained that lead until the final minutes when there were three lead changes in the final two and a half minutes before Hattiesburg was able to close it out at the line.

Also deserves mention: Louisville 37 Pontotoc 36 4A Girls Championship game

Top individual performance: Brendan Brown’s 29 points, 6 rebounds and 3 steals 6A semifinal performance versus Horn Lake.

Brown dominated the game from start to finish to propel the Cougars into the championship game and to their first state title. He came up especially big in the closing minutes as he scored seven of the Cougars final nine points to hold off the surging Eagles.

Play of the Tournament: Jacylin Houston’s game saving block in Louisville’s 37-36 win over Pontotoc in the 4A Girls Championship game

Down by one with seconds left in the game, Pontotoc had the ball out in the deep corner on their end of the court looking to score a go ahead bucket. Sophomore guard Channing Lane broke open on a backdoor cut to the hoop for what looked like a sure basket for the lead, but Houston came out of nowhere for the big game saving block.

Upset of the Tournament: Picayune over Provine

Coming into the Big House with 15 losses on the season, Picayune was not expected to be much trouble for a seasoned Provine squad that had been ranked most of the season. But we forgot about the aura of the Big House and how it can make really good teams a shell of themselves. Picayune came in with a lineup already experienced in navigating that Big House Aura after having played in last year’s 5A semifinals. Provine, on the other hand, seemingly had that deer in the headlights look, blowing a number of easy attempts and just never got their footing up under them. Picayune took the lead in the second quarter and was able to maintain it throughout, putting the game away with a 13-0 fourth quarter run to finish off the Rams.

Dunk of the Tournament: Raymond’s Eric Paymon’s left handed flush over a leaping Yazoo City defender

Trying to fight back from a double figure halftime deficit, Raymond made a push early in the third quarter. The highlight of the run was Paymon cutting down the baseline when a teammate caught the ball in the lane, and the teammate hitting Paymon in stride allowing Paymon to rise up for a nasty left handed flush right over a lunging Yazoo City defender.

Best Fans: Yazoo City turned the coliseum into a sea of red.

Hungry for a title after a 27 year drought, the Yazoo City faithful really turned out for the 4A state championship game, and they made sure everyone else in the building knew they were there as they loudly cheered their team on from start to finish.

Also deserve mention: Booneville’s fans also deserve mention for the turnout and support they gave for their boys and girls teams’ championship runs.

Boys State Tournament All-Tournament Team

Brendan Brown 6-2 Sr. G Northwest Rankin

49 PTS, 11 REBS, 5 STLS in 2 games

Darrian Johnson 6-7 Sr. F Hattiesburg

32 PTS, 15 REBS, 4 STLS, 5 BLKS in 2 games

Jalen Smith 5-10 Sr. G McEvans

42 PTS, 13 REBS, 5 STLS in 2 games

Damarion Winston 6-2 Jr. G Yazoo City

33 PTS, 7 REBS, 3 STLS in 2 games

Kedrick Simmons 6-6 Soph. F Booneville

30 PTS, 14 REBS, 3 STLS, 2 BLKS in 2 games

Girls State Tournament All-Tournament Team

Madison Booker 6-1 Sr. G Germantown

48 PTS, 21 REBS, 6 STLS, 3 BLKS in 2 games

Jacylin Houston 5-11 Sr. F Louisville

45 PTS, 20 REBS, 4 STLS, 7 BLKS in 2 games

Laneisha Palm 5-9 Sr. G Lake

49 PTS, 14 REBS, 5 STLS in 2 games

Sa’niyah Cook 6-3 Soph. C Booneville

38 PTS, 30 REBS in 2 games

Jakera Ducksworth 5-10 Soph. G West Jones

31 PTS, 13 REBS, 5 STLS in 2 games

That's a wrap for this year.