By Dalton Middleton
Special to The Dispatch
Unfinished business. That is what head coach Torrey Dale has stressed to his Panther team ever since they lost in the Mississippi High School Activities Association (MHSAA) Class 1A State Championship last season. The players of West Lowndes bought in to their first-year head coach and played their way back to Jackson.
Stingy half-court defense and rebounding led the West Lowndes Panthers to a 76-51 win over Mount Olive and advanced them to the third round of the playoffs.
West Lowndes will face Ashland at noon Wednesday at Jackson State University. The Panthers need three wins to earn a state title in their third straight trip to Jackson.
The Panthers (18-13) accumulated 12 steals and outrebounded the Pirates 40-21 en route to the 25-point victory. C.J. Smith and Devon Chandler paved the way with 22 points and three steals a piece.
In the first quarter, Smith led his team to an 18-15 lead. He hit three 3-pointers and started the team on a 11-2 run to begin the game.
Dale said he trusted Smith to lead his team to victory and trusted him to make all the proper leads and help his team out, exactly what the outstanding point guard does on a nightly basis.
“My message to C.J. was that you’re the general,” Dale said. “You’re the point guard. You have all the accolades this year. You have all district. You have all conference MVP. Conference MVPs don’t let their team lose and not get to Jackson. We go as far as you take us. You have some small guards on you tonight so go out there and start aggressive.”
In the second quarter, the West Lowndes defense started playing really stingy. The team accumulated four steals in the quarter and pushed their lead to 34-23 behind Zion Tucker and Devon Chandler. The Panthers held the Pirates to eight points in the quarter with Tucker and Chandler stealing the ball on three straight possessions. That led to seven points and helped extend the lead to 13 points.
Chandler said this team’s main focus has been defense all year and expects to get the golden ball if his team can continue to play with the level of intensity on defense that they have. He said the three steals that gave them a double digit lead paved the way for the win.
“That was a turning point of the game,” Chandler said. “Anytime we get steals and get hyped up on defense, our offense automatically comes. No team can stop us when our defense gets hyped and we start taking the ball from people. We just pride ourselves on defense. We just want the other team to have the least amount of point possible, so for that to happen we have to take the ball away from them.”
The Panthers followed through with their goals and grabbed six steals throughout the first half, and turned that into a 11-point lead at halftime.
In the third quarter, the game continued the same way it had in the first half. The Panthers gathered five steals in the quarter and Chandler made them pay. He scored five points and helped extend the lead to 49-33. When the Panthers extended their lead to 16 points, the Pirates began getting very chippy on the court, and even started a fight after the game.
The Panthers never fell for their tricks and stayed composed on the court during and after the game. Smith said the constant hassle from almost every team they have beat this year has prepared them to not budge in situations such as those.
“The whole year we have been having challenges from teams being sore losers and coming at us,” Smith said. “We decided to stay composed as a team because if we get into a predicament, that is going to hurt our goal to win the championship.”
The Mount Olive Pirates attempted a comeback in the fourth quarter, but West Lowndes defense was too strong and the celebration was on.
Dale said this is the time of year when his team starts getting the attention they deserve. He wants his team to keep playing well and finish the business that they could not last season.
“Act like we have been here before and not be satisfied from being here but going there and winning,” Coach Dale said. “We got down there to Jackson last year into the championship game and didn’t get what we wanted. Don’t take the chance for granted this year. We are not going down there for show, we are going down there with intention of winning that 1A state championship.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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