CLINTON — Chris Moore couldn’t remember the last time his team shot better than 60 percent from the field.
Greg Watkins couldn’t recall the last time an opponent shot that high of a percentage against his team for 32 minutes.
Unfortunately for Watkins, the Jackson Prep boys basketball team’s hot-shooting Wednesday made for a long afternoon at Mississippi College’s A.E. Wood Coliseum.
Mitch Redding and Graham Eklund had 11 points, and Jake Ray added 10 as part of a 60.5-percent shooting effort in Jackson Prep’s 56-32 victory against Columbus Christian Academy at the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools Overall State tournament.
Nine players scored for Jackson Prep, the No. 3 seed in Class AAAA, which shot 75 percent (12 of 16) from the field in the second half to pull away from Columbus Christian (28-8), the No. 1 seed in Class AA. Jackson Prep will face Madison-Ridgeland Academy at 6 p.m. Friday in the tournament semifinals.
Dorian Brewer had a team-high nine points on a day the Rams shot 32.4 percent from the field and couldn’t sustain the energy or momentum that helped them win three games last weekend at the Class AA State tournament at Canton Academy. Columbus Christian rallied from a 19-point deficit to beat Sylva-Bay Academy, outlasted West Memphis Christian 57-55 in overtime, and then beat Canton Academy 40-31 to win the school’s first MAIS boys basketball state championship.
“We never could get it going,” Watkins said. “The first quarter-and-a-half we looked like one team. The next two-and-a-half quarters we looked like a team that was mentally and physically beat. I don’t think there was anything we could have done or should have done. I think fresh legs, fresh minds, we play them it is a totally different game.”
Jackson Prep used 3-pointers by Redding and Ray to close the first half on an 8-0 run. In all, Jackson Prep shot 11 of 22 in the first half (5 of 7 from 3-point range) and capitalized on 10 turnovers by Columbus Christian.
“Any time you can shoot over 50 percent, you feel good as a basketball team,” Jackson Prep coach Chris Moore said. “We were able to attack the paint and get good looks and make them. On top of that, we shot it well from 3-point range.”
Moore said his team didn’t fall into the temptation of settling for long-distance shots in the second half after the early success. Instead, Jackson Prep continued to find openings in the gaps of Columbus Christian’s zone defense. The Patriots routinely flashed into the middle and received passes and then attacked the rim or drew the defense and made another pass for an even better shot.
“We really want to get sustainable offense,” Moore said. “We want to get shots that are efficient and that are high quality that we can replicate throughout the game and see success.”
Moore said words like “workmanlike” and “efficient” describe his team and how it has to play to have success. He acknowledged the Patriots aren’t the biggest or the quickest team, so he said they have to make up for what they don’t have by taking advantage of what an opponent gives them. On Wednesday, Jackson Prep capitalized with 15 assists on 23 field goals. It also had 11 steals and 34 points in the paint.
“We’re not as athletic or as big as a lot of teams on our schedule,” Moore said. “We played a lot of Class 5A and Class 6A public schools, so we have had to be good in half-court man defense. We have had to be efficient on offense. On nights we haven’t been, we haven’t been very successful. Throughout the season, guys have done a good job of learning what that looks, and tonight we were able to do it.”
Columbus Christian started quickly, building a six-point lead before Jackson Prep used a half-court trap to stop its momentum. Still, Dawson Shaw (six points) hit a 3-pointer with 45.8 seconds left in the first quarter to match the Rams’ biggest lead, 17-11. But turnovers at the start of the second quarter and the combination of good looks in the paint and deadly 3-point shooting enabled Jackson Prep to gain the momentum.
Watkins said Sylva-Bay Academy probably shot as well as Jackson Prep in the first half of its Class AA matchup. But Columbus Christian turned up the defensive intensity in that game to overcome a 17-point halftime deficit that grew to 19 early in the second half. On Wednesday, though, Watkins said the grind of the tournament games the past two weeks proved to be too much to overcome.
“I think a lot was us defensively,” Watkins said. “It has been a couple of pretty tough weeks. You could tell we were mentally and physically beat.”
Watkins said you could sense the physical and mental energy draining at the end of the first half. He tried multiple substitutions and lineups to create a spark, but he couldn’t find the right mix of players. After the game, he said he hoped the lessons the team learned in the final month will help it come back stronger next season, especially considering nearly all of the pieces from this year’s team figure to return next year.
“I don’t think it really was a mental challenge because we faced some teams that I think are probably as good or better than Prep,” Watkins said. “West Lowndes, Nettleton, Caledonia are as good or better than the one we played tonight. I just think there have been a lot of ups and downs and battles in the last two weeks. I think it took its toll on us tonight.
“I told the seniors we have been in this spot in the state tournament the previous two years and fell a little bit short. One thing I told them that can never be taken away is you had to lose your last game, but you have to remember you are a state champion. That will carry with you the rest of your life.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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