The last time the Pascagoula Panthers of coach Lorenzo Wright stepped onto their home court in a postseason game, they lost to Terry 48-46 in the second round of the Class 6A basketball playoffs, ending their hopes at a state championship.
The defeat has fueled the Panthers all season, and it showed Friday night as PHS dominated the West Jones Mustangs 73-46 in the opening round of the 6A playoffs.
“We really wanted it from the start being that we lost our last home game here last year,” Wright said. “That played a factor for us. We got after it and played hard the entire game. The loss to Terry left a bad taste in our mouths that we haven’t forgotten about at all. It has been a real motivating factor.”
The victory was the 28th straight after a season-opening defeat. The Panthers will play West Harrison on Friday night at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College in Perkinston in the second round of the playoffs. Game time is 7 or 8:30.
Pascagoula has defeated the Hurricanes twice this year.
“It’s always tough to beat someone a third time,” Wright said.
It was obvious from the beginning that the Panthers were motivated to not let what happened last year happen again. Their full-court pressure defense had West Jones struggling to just get the ball upcourt most of the game. Twice the Mustangs failed to get the ball past half-court in 10 seconds and another time they got a five-second violation.
Wright didn’t have turnover stats that his team forced, but they had to be well into double digits.
“I thought we came out from the gate really well,” Wright said. “Damian (McMillian) came out on fire.”
The Panthers’ leading scorer and Division 4-A player of the year hit 14 of his game-high 31 points in the first quarter, including three 3-pointers.
Panthers center Markuese Grady was a dominating physical force inside in the quarter with three blocks, including two within seconds on the same West Jones possession. Grady finished with five blocks and nine rebounds.
Wright had high praise for Grady’s performance tonight and this season.
“Marquese does all the dirty work for us,” Wright said. “He’s going to rebound the heck out of the ball. He’s going to defend, and block shots. He cleans up everything else. He makes it easier for everybody else to guard on the wing. They just funnel it down to him and he cleans it up either with a rebound or a blocked shot.”
The Panthers led 27-12 after the first quarter and the lead ballooned to 38-19 with 3:20 to play before halftime. Then the Panthers got careless and allowed West Jones back in the game with an 11-4 run, cutting the PHS lead to 12 points, 42-30 at the half.
“In the second quarter, we didn’t close it out and we did the same thing in the third quarter,” Wright said. “But we turned it on when we had to.”
Pascagoula started hot in the third quarter, then hit another lull before Kelan Rich picked the pocket of a Mustang in the backcourt and threw down a vicious one-handed dunk seconds before the buzzer pushing the Panthers’ advantage to 20 points, 59-39.
Pascagoula kept pouring it on in the final quarter before West Jones coach Regis Huddleston acknowledged defeat by sending in the subs with 3:38 remaining. Panther starters remained in the game for another two minutes, then Wright cleared his bench.
Wright had praise for his bench in this game and the season overall.
“The guys off the bench played some good minutes,” he said. “Treyian Harvey and Tomareo (Johnson) played some good minutes. Justin (Rogue) really played great.
“It doesn’t show up on the stat sheet, but those guys come in and give us some relief when starters are not taking care of business. They come in and give relief, let (the starters) refocus, and come back and get them. Everybody is playing their role well.”
McMillian was the only Panther in double figures. Blake Nettles, Grady and CleDarius Ross scored eight apiece, Chris North and Rich had seven each and Tylan Wilson notched six.
Wright is calm and restrained on the sideline, which is quite the contrast to the furious pace of his
players. When asked how he keeps from losing it, he said with a laugh, “I’m losing it on the inside, I just don’t show it. I try to focus on coaching my guys.
“If you ever see me get mad at a referee, it’s because I feel it was a total bad call. The referees are going to make the calls they are going to make. I’ve learned to adjust to it.
“I focus on my guys. I don’t hear anything in the stands.”
