By Laurence Hilliard
Choctaw Plaindealer
The Choctaw County High School boys enter the Region 4-3A tournament at Nettleton on a high note with six straight wins to improve to 17-9. The last three wins came against Houston 60-53, Winona 68-33 and Eupora 80-66.
“We're playing well. I hope the layoff won't hurt us,” said coach Gary Beals. “Maybe it won't.”
Choctaw County finished second in the six-team region behind Nettleton with a 4-1 record. The Chargers earned an opening round bye in the tournament and will play in the semifinals at 8:30 Thursday against the South Pontotoc-Hatley winner. The Chargers defeated both this season, 54-51 against South Pontotoc January 29 and 56-14 against Hatley January 26.
Because of the bye, the team will have a one week layoff.
The Houston game was close throughout. “We stepped up,” Beals said. “We did a great job on the defensive end, even though we let 3 (Jaylin Smith) get way too many points (23). He's a heck of a player. We did what we had to do. We took the ball inside. Jeremy (Miller) had a good game inside.”
The Winona game gave Beals an opportunity to use his bench and 14 players scored, led by Akeem Kirkwood with nine points. Israel Whitmore had a strong game off the bench with seven points and five rebounds.
Beals said Eupora was a good win against a tough team. “It's a rivalry game at their place. We did what we had to do to win the game.”
The Chargers shot 55 percent, 31 of 56. Steven Triplett had 18 points, Devonte Miller 17 and Kirkwood 16 points and 16 rebounds.
Choctaw County will either play in the consolation game at 5:30 or the championship game at 8:30 Friday. The Chargers are assured of playing in the MHSAA playoffs and can earn a home court for the opening round with a win Thursday.
LADY CHARGERS
The Choctaw County girls finished the regular season with a loss and two wins for an 18-10 record heading into the Region 4-3A tournament. The Lady Chargers lost to Houston 60-56, then defeated Winona 54-32 and Eupora 46-17,
Choctaw County played Nettleton, the host school, in the opening round of the region tournament Tuesday. The winner plays top seed Aberdeen in the semifinals at 5:30. Thursday. The championship and consolation games will be held Friday.
Senior Brysa Maxwell was outstanding for the Lady Choctaws in the three games. She had 36 points and 11 rebounds against Houston, 15 points, six rebounds, four steals and three assists against Winona and 19 points, 13 rebounds and five steals in the Eupora game.
“She has been carrying the team,” said coach Cory Guyton. “She's a special person, a real unique individual. She's a senior so I'm going to miss her when she graduates, but she has good potential to play at the next level.”
Twenty-five missed free throws cost Choctaw County against Houston. “You aren't going to beat many teams when you miss 25 free throws,” Guyton said. “We also had some turnovers. We have to take care of the ball better and make our free throws.”
Easy wins against Winona and Eupora gave some of the younger players more court time. “We worked on some things that will help us down the road,” Guyton said.
Lakyshia Mitchell had 13 points against Winona and Laiana Cork added 11.
