Hattiesburg defense too much for Canton in MHSAA 5A Semifinals

The Tigers held on to win 61-51 and will play for a state championship Friday night

JACKSON — Hattiesburg has ended it’s 19-year drought of reaching the boys state championship in basketball. Now we’ll see if they can break the 49-year drought since the Tigers last won it.

Fueled by a couple of big runs and a relentless defense, the Tigers picked up their 15th-straight win Tuesday night at the Mississippi Coliseum, hanging on to beat Canton 61-51 in the semifinal round of the MHSAA 5A Basketball Tournament.

The Tigers (23-7) will meet the winner of Picayune and Provine at 7 p.m. Friday night with a golden ball on the line.

“(Canton’s) size makes them a great team,” Hattiesburg coach Ernie Watson said. “But I think our speed and our quickness — and our heart — really showed tonight.”

As they have throughout their timely winning streak, the Tigers hung their hat on defense Tuesday night.

The Tigers forced their opponent into tough situation after tough situation, even after a hot start left Canton (24-7) with an early lead.

Deandre Lewis drained his first three three-point baskets in the first quarter and helped Canton to a healthy 11-6 lead. They held serve the rest of the quarter and led it 15-11 going to the second.

That’s when Hattiesburg coach Ernie Watson ordered a double-team on big man Jamarion Fleming, effectively taking Canton’s 6-foot-8 forward who had been the strength of the Tiger offense.

The effect was almost instantaneous. While Canton struggled to adjust to the mismatch, the Hattiesburg offense heated up. The Tigers opened the second quarter on an 18-1 run, building a 29-16 lead midway through the second period.

“Everyone knows that’s our strength is our size inside,” Canton coach Brian Townsend said. “But they effectively took that advantage away with what they were doing defensively, and we had success when we were able to knock down shots from the outside, but we couldn’t get it done when we needed to.”

Lewis hit a half court buzzer-beater for Canton to finish the first half, but Hattiesburg had still outscored Canton 25-12 in the quarter and led it 36-24.

Canton fought their way back into it in the third, riding some hot shooting out of the gate from Deanthony Lewis. He got back-to-back buckets two minutes into the second half to trim the Hattiesburg lead to 38-37.

Watson called a quick timeout, and Hattiesburg senior guard Malik Walker said the conversation in the huddle was fairly straightforward.

“I told the guys we can’t be sitting around in Hattiesburg next week with regrets,” Walker said. “And I think when I said that it kind of clicked with everyone that we had to leave it all on the floor.”

Whatever the message, it worked.

Hattiesburg scored five of the last seven points in the quarter and led it 43-39 headed to the fourth.

Their advantage ballooned as high as 12 in the waning minutes of the game, as Canton made just two baskets in the first six minutes of the eight-minute quarter.

Watson’s defensive adjustment had worked to perfection: Fleming ended up with two points, both on free throws. Deandre Lewis finished with 15 points, and Armani Watson scored 11.

“That’s what we challenged the guys to do,” Watson said. “We had to put the pressure on their shooters and defend the entry lanes.”

Hattiesburg got a game-high 19 points from Darrian Johnson, who hit seven of his nine shots from the floor and led the Tigers with nine rebounds and three blocks.

Jabar Walker scored 14 for Hattiesburg and Stephen McCullon chipped in 13.