WEST POINT — Oak Hill Academy basketball coach Brian Middleton made a couple of suggestions at halftime Saturday night.
Those suggestions included guarding harder, forcing some turnovers, and getting the transition game going.
In the second half, the Raiders down their coach’s wish list and knocked each item off with perfection.
Oak Hill Academy erased a halftime deficit with a near-flawless effort on defense to post a 54-46 victory against Columbus Christian Academy in the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools Class AA, District 2 tournament championship game.
“The biggest key for us was getting the transition going,” Oak Hill Academy senior Kaleb Darnell said. “Coach told us we weren’t playing hard enough on the defensive end. We locked down, got some steals, got some easy baskets,and that really turned the game around.”
Columbus Christian entered the game with a size advantage. Having already played twice during the regular season, the Raiders knew the importance of driving to the basket.
“They really couldn’t guard us when we drove to the basket,” Darnell said. “They had more size, but we had a little more speed. What we learned from earlier is we just didn’t need to settle. We needed to drive to the basket and draw fouls because they didn’t have a lot of depth.”
The tone for a physical, intense battle was set for the opening tip. Play in the paint was hard and the referees called it accordingly with three technical fouls being called in the first 10 minutes.
The rugged tone led to neither team being able to establish identity. Thanks to eight first-half points by Dawson Shaw, Columbus Christian led by as many as eight but only led 22-21 at halftime.
“I was just begging for stops,” Middleton said. “I thought if we ever got some stops we could have some separation.”
Chance Wilson drained a 3-pointer for Oak Hill to tie the game at 27. Wilson then made a steal and went coast to coast for a fast-break layup to help the Raiders begin to pull away. A 10-2 run opened up a 34-29 lead for the hosts.
“We were really excited about playing,” said Wilson, another senior on the squad. “We had been waiting for this game for quite some time, and really everybody wanted to play it. We may have been a little tight to start the game. We settled down and played some pretty good defense when we had to.”
Middleton used more full-court pressure in the third quarter and Oak Hill Academy was able to build the lead.
“We had them in foul trouble,” Middleton said. “We also were able to get stop, stop, stop, stop back to back. That was really big for us.”
The Rams were back within a point to start the fourth quarter. However, nine points by Ken Dill and a 7-of-9 showing by the team from the free-throw line helped the Raiders pull away for a final time.
Darnell had 18 points for Oak Hill Academy (19-9), while Dill added 10 and Wilson had eight.
R.J. DeLoach led Columbus Christian with 13 points, 12 points from Dorian Brewer had 12 and Shaw had 11.
Both squads will begin play in the North Class AA tournament Tuesday or Wednesday at Winona Christian.
“Last year we were put out in the first round of North State,” Wilson said. “This year we want to do a lot better than that and go all the way to the championship. Hopefully winning the district will get us an easier (first-round) opponent and give us some momentum.”
In the boys third-place game, Carroll Academy beat Winona Christian, 46-40.
In the girls championship, Carroll Academy took advantage of a cold-shooting Oak Hill Academy squad to capture a 57-46 win.
“The biggest difference in the game was in the second half they went to a zone and we couldn’t make any shots,” Middleton said. “We kept battling but we didn’t have any answers for the zone. We just couldn’t make enough outside shots to keep up.”
Oak Hill Academy led 27-23 at halftime but didn’t manage a field goal in the third quarter. Carroll Academy allowed only three free throws in the period and built as much as a 14-point lead.
Some late shots by Sarah Dill brought the Lady Raiders back within five but the damage had been done.
“The third quarter was a total disaster,” Middleton said. “We missed some shots early and that really hurt the confidence we had from playing so well in the first half.”
Dill led Oak Hill Academy (25-9) with 20 points. Tanner Grubbs had 10.
Caroline Mumme led Carroll Academy with 15 points. Sydney Liddell had 12.
Both teams also will begin North AA tournament play at Winona on Tuesday or Wednesday.
In the girls third-place game, Winona Christian beat Columbus Christian 50-48.
n Local players earning all-tournament honors included Sarah Dill, Tanner Grubbs, Anna Kathryn Childress, Chance Wilson, Kaleb Darnell, Ken Dill, Drew Riley, and Clark Hays from Oak Hill Academy and Celia Peal, R.J. DeLoach, Dorian Brewer, and Dawson Shaw from Columbus Christian.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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