Zae Davis comes alive in second half to push Biggersville past Bay Springs in 1A Boys Semifinals

Biggersville's splendid senior scored 15 of his team-high 19 points in the second half

JACKSON — When the going got tough, Zae Davis got going.

The Biggersville star who hit the game-winning shot in last year’s 1A Championship game picked up right where he left off in Monday morning’s 2022 Boys 1A semifinal win over Bay Springs, scoring 15 second-half points to push the Lions into Thursday’s Championship Game.

After a back-and-forth first half, Davis took over in the third quarter. He scored on four out of five trips to help the Lions (28-2) get the separation they needed to hold on for the 66-53 win.

Biggersville will face the McAdams-Byers winner in the 1A Championship at 3 p.m. Thursday afternoon.

“I wasn’t attacking enough in the first half,” Davis said. “After halftime, my team needed me to step up. Coach actually told me I needed to step up. So that’s what I tried to do.”

He succeeded, but it wasn’t without help from the rest of Biggersville’s loaded lineup.

Dylan Rowsey turned in a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds. Brooks Brand hit five three-pointers for 15 points and chipped in eight rebounds.

The Lions built a 16-9 lead in the first quarter, but Bay Springs trimmed that to 24-21 at the half, with Tashun Pierce doing most of the damage offensively for the Bulldogs (26-3).

The third quarter is when Davis went to work.

“Zae is the man,” Biggersville coach Cliff Little said. “Everyone knows Zae is the man. And we needed him to be the man today. But we’ve come to expect that out of him.”

The Lions out-scored the Bulldogs 21-11 in the third quarter and took a 45-32 lead into the fourth. Bay Springs scored 21 points in the fourth, but the game was too forgone by that point.

Pierce finished with a game-high 22 points for Bay Springs.