Phillip Morris loves defense.
After playing for and then coaching with longtime Columbus High School boys basketball coach Sammy Smith, it’s easy to tell how Morris’ affinity for pressure and hard-nosed play was nurtured. Those qualities blossomed as Morris grew as an assistant coach under Luther Riley, Gary Griffin, and Anthony Carlyle and was a part of two state championship squads with the Falcons.
Morris’ passion for defense still burns now that he is running the show at Columbus High.
“Yeah. Yeah. There you go,” Morris said as two Columbus players trapped a New Hope player in front of the scorer’s table to force New Hope coach Drew McBrayer to call a timeout.
Later in the third quarter, Morris implored the Falcons to keep up the intensity in their half-court defense as he said, “Get him. Get him. Don’t let him out.”
Morris’ encouragement helped Columbus set the tone with its defense in the third quarter en route to a 59-48 victory against New Hope in a Mississippi High School Activities Association (MHSAA) non-region game at New Hope High.
“The first time we played them that is kind of how we spread the lead out,” Morris said. “In the second half, we just kicked the pressure up and pressed them a lot and tried to make them give it up, which they did. We didn’t do a good job of finishing the game, but we’re still learning how to finish games.”
Tijah McCrary had a game-high 23 points (25 in his team’s scorebook) to lead Columbus (8-11), which was coming off a 59-53 victory against Oxford on Friday night at home. That win helped the Falcons to improve to 2-0 in Class 6A, Region 2 play.
Against New Hope, Greg King and Gabe Williams added eight points and Jerome Sherrod and Rod Grays had seven.
Columbus led 26-22 at halftime and 37-26 after three quarters. The pressure defense finally started to wear the Trojans down in the fourth quarter, as the Falcons were able to force turnovers and get out in transition. Morris said that is a recipe for success with players who have accepted roles and are playing hard on both ends of the floor.
“Guys are figuring out their roles,” Morris said. “Like I told you earlier in the year, around district time we wanted to get tuned up, and I think that’s what is happening. I think we’re doing a pretty solid job with what we have got.”
Columbus will play host to Tupelo at 6 p.m. Friday in a key doubleheader for the girls and boys teams. The game will help determine seedings for the region tournament, which will at Tupelo High.
Presley Langford led New Hope (9-9) with 10 points. LJ Hackman had nine, Korey Chandler had eight, and Jaylen Smith had seven for the Trojans, who were coming off a 56-34 victory against Kosciusko on Friday night. Caleb Parr had 16 points, Chandler added 10, and Javaris Roberts added nine in the win that helped the Trojans improve to 2-0 in Class 4A, Region 4.
Despite the loss to Columbus, New Hope coach Drew McBrayer, whose team had won seven of eight prior to the rematch, was pleased his team didn’t quit. The Falcons built their lead to as many as 18 four times in the fourth quarter, but the Trojans used their pressure defense to make the visitors earn every point.
“That’s one of the things I told them in the locker room that we’ll learn from this,” McBrayer said. “We were down and the game could have gotten out of hand and you kept fighting and battling. That is going to pay off. It might not be this year. It might not be next year, but you’ll go back and remember that one day.”
The win helped Columbus sweep the season series against New Hope. Columbus earned a 56-42 victory on Dec. 22, 2018, at Columbus High. King had 24 points in that game. True to the nature of Morris’ team, the Falcons had different players emerge in the rematch against the Trojans, which he feels shows his players are settling into roles.
McBrayer also feels his team, which has eighth-graders and freshmen in key roles, understands the importance of playing together. That will be even more important because the Trojans will be without senior Krash Pascasio for at least two more weeks. McBrayer said Pascasio, who was on crutches and had a boot on his right foot, was injured earlier this week against Noxubee County.
“Their mentality is almost like you said that they don’t know any better and they’re just going to go play hard,” McBrayer said when asked how he thinks his team will react without Pascasio. “That is what we have done all year. We’ll try to figure it out. There are enough pieces to plug in and plug around as long as we keep battling and fighting and working every day.”
n Columbus girls 63, New Hope 27
Yvonne Hairston hopes silence is a recipe for a championship.
Earlier this week, Columbus lost to Center Hill 37-34 on the road. For a “special” team with title aspirations, Hairston said the performance wasn’t acceptable, which is why she has issued an edict of silence for her players in practice. She said the players can only talk when they’re on defense. In all other activities, silence and focus are the objectives.
“We have set a goal for ourselves and we have to reach it,” Hairston said. “This is a special group that we have. When you are given an opportunity, you can’t just let it slip away, and they know that, too. We don’t want to get caught slippin’. We got caught slippin’ with Center Hill.”
Columbus (15-2) responded from the loss with a 58-17 victory against Oxford on Friday to improve to 2-0 in the district.
Against New Hope, JaTyler Turner had 23 points and Hannah White added 15. The Lady Falcons led 22-17 in the second quarter after a 3-pointer by the Lady Trojans’ Anna Prince. From there, Columbus extended the margin to 31-17 at halftime and then turned on the jets in the third quarter.
“It is all about what we do in the district to position ourselves for the district tournament,” Hairston said. “We still can’t talk because we still have one on the line (on Friday night) and we’re going to get in there at practice and get really, really focused.”
India Woods led New Hope with 11 points.
New Hope will take on Louisville in a region doubleheader Tuesday.
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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