CALEDONIA — With eight seniors on his roster, Caledonia High School boys basketball coach Josh Scott tries to convince everyone he has one of the easiest jobs in the state of Mississippi.
That experience paid off for Caledonia on Tuesday night, as seniors scored all of the team’s points except for the final basket in a 69-54 victory against Noxubee County.
“They’ve seen it all before and pretty much all they need is just a reminder from time to time,” Scott said. “It’s just a matter of which night and which senior will be the star for us from game to game.”
The victory marked Caledonia’s first regular-season sweep of Noxubee County and helped the Confederates (20-4, 6-2 Class 4A, Region 4) post their first 20-win season since 2006-07.
“I don’t hear anything about playoffs, and I don’t hear anything about winning a district title because this group understands they have to play harder than the opponent to win,” Scott said. “We’re not going to roll into a gym and just out-talent people for a victory.”
Following a first half in which Caledonia let Noxubee County to hang around, just like it did in a victory Jan. 14 in Macon, Jonathan Comer admitted Scott had some things to say to motivate his veteran group when both teams were tied at halftime.
“Our coach gave us a pretty good halftime speech because we weren’t playing pretty hard,” Comer said. “We had no discipline, and we were told we could easily find our tails on the bench. That’s all we needed to hear.”
Comer scored four points out of halftime to give the Confederates its final lead. The senior wing player finished with a team-high 17 points and made the Tigers pay for leaving him open on the perimeter. Those two buckets led to a10-2 run that allowed Caledonia to settle into a 2-3 zone and force Noxubee County to beat it from the perimeter.
Noxubee County coach Marvin McGee had issues with the officials throughout a third quarter that saw his team make just three baskets. The Tigers (7-15, 1-7) failed to guard Caledonia’s perimeter players, including point guard Bryan Dickerson without fouling. Dickerson finished with 13 points and was a major reason senior center Jeffrey Gore had 12 points.
“He wasn’t with us last year and has kind of taken a backseat to the players that were here, but he’s stepped up in this last-season push,” Scott said of Dickerson. “It comes down to execution, and he’s the reason a lot of the time we get in the right position to score.”
In front of an energized “Sixth Man” student section, Caledonia outscored Noxubee County 23-10 in a third quarter that saw Noxubee County junior forward Chris Hairston (game-high 23 points) pick up two fouls in a 20-second period that forced him out of the game.
“It’s hard to score when you’re not getting the same foul calls on both ends,” McGee said. “I just got to keep it real when I say I can’t teach my kids this game when the refs aren’t calling the game the same on both ends of the floor.”
Caledonia has two more region games left on its schedule as it continues to battle West Lauderdale and Leake Central for the district title.
“We think we can make a long run in the playoffs and maybe get to Jackson if we continue to play defense,” Gore said. “We have a lot of confidence and started to figure out halfway into this season we could beat anybody if we focus.”
Noxubee County girls 71, Caledonia 44
Noxubee County apparently needed a wake-up call after a disappointing first quarter. After trailing 12-10, the Lady Tigers rebounded and cruised to the victory.
Noxubee County took advantage of a size difference inside and got the ball to junior center Idralian Williams (game-high 23 points). Williams had 17 points in the first half.
The Lady Tigers’ full-court press allowed them to dominate the second quarter by a 26-6 margin.
Gracie McCleskey led Caledonia with 11 points.
Follow Matt Stevens on Twitter @matthewcstevens.
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