Sometime the ball bounces your way and sometimes it doesn’t.
Unfortunately for the Carroll Academy Rebels, the ball didn’t bounce their way on Saturday night in the Class 3A championship game.
The Rebels had their worst offensive night of the season as Columbia Academy built an early lead and took a 53-37 win to claim the Class 3A state championship on Saturday night at Canton Academy.
The Rebels finish as the No. 2 seed in Class 3A and will advanced to the MAIS Overall Tournament at Mississippi College this week, where they defeated Sylva-Bay 60-47 in the first round. Carroll advanced to play Madison-Ridgeland on Wednesday night in the Overall quarterfinals.
Veteran coach Tommy Acy said it was just one of those nights shooting for the Rebels in the 3A finals.
“The ball just wouldn’t ever go in the hole,” Acy said. “We had good looks at the basket. It would go in and out. Against this team, you couldn’t miss those shots. We knew they were good and the ball just wouldn’t go in the hole.”
The Rebels struggled from the field and led just one time at 3-2 in the first period. Columbia used a strong inside game and led 12-5 at the end of the first period.
Columbia extended its lead early in the second period as they led 18-7 with 6:19 left in the second. But Carroll got back with eight straight points on three-pointers by Morgan Mims and Noah Beck to cut the lead to 18-15 with 3:29 left in the first half. But that’s as close as the Rebels got as Columbia score the last six points of the half to lead 24-15 at the half.
“We knew what they were going to do,” Acy said. “They are a fundamentally sound team. You get behind and it’s hard to catch up. We had streaks where the ball would go in the hole. We got within three at one time and it was like they put a lid on it and they got up on us about 11 and it was hard to come back after that.”
The Rebels got within 26-19 on a three-pointer by Logan Taylor with 6:41 left in the third. But Columbia scored the next eight points and led 34-19 with 3:31 left in the third and 41-24 at the end of the third.
“He took us out of our zone and when he got the lead he started to hold the ball and I knew he was going to do that,” Acy said. “So he made us go man and as far as man to man, they were a little bit quicker than we were. We just had to battle.”
The Rebels battled back to pull within 12 at 44-32 with 2:54 left in the game but Columbia scored nine straight to pull away and take the win and championship trophy.
Logan Taylor, Noah Beck and Reese Fulton were each named to the Class 3A all-tournament team for Carroll.
Taylor led Carroll with 15 points while Noah Beck had seven points. Reese Fulton was held to a season-low six points and nine rebounds.
“They did a good job on Reese,” Acy said. “He missed a couple of shots early and got frustrated. They were playing really good defense on him. They were physical and we are a physical team. The ball just wouldn’t go in the hole.”
Despite the loss, it has been a special season for the Rebels and Acy.
“At the beginning of the year, if somebody had told us that we would be playing for the state championship, I would have thought that was a dream,” Acy said. “And then we woke up this morning and were playing for the state championship. This group, like I told them after the game, that this is a group that has changed the thought of Carroll Academy basketball and athletics as well. We made it to the semifinals in football and the finals in basketball, they have changed the whole outlook on Carroll sports. And I couldn’t be more proud of them. They were my first group. I got them in the seventh grade and to now watch them to be state runners-up, I couldn’t be more proud.”
Carroll boys 45, Oak Hill 33
The Rebels advanced to the Class 3A championship game with a 12-point win over the Raiders, taking three of four games from their district foes this season.
The Rebels led 11-2 at the end of the first period and 13-6 at the half. Oak Hill outscored Carroll 10-7 in the third to cut the margin to 20-16 going to the fourth. Both offenses woke up in the fourth where Carroll outscored Oak Hill 25-17 to take the win.
Logan Taylor led Carroll with 14 points while Noah Beck had 13 points and Reese Fulton added 12.
Carroll boys 59, Lee Academy 57
The Rebels had a battle in the first round of the Class 3A Tournament as they held on to take a two-point win over the Colts.
Each team scored 12 points in the first period but Carroll outscored Lee 18-12 in the second to lead 30-24 at the half. The Rebels extended that lead in the third period, outscoring the Colts 21-14 to take a 51-38 lead into the fourth. Lee outscored Carroll 19-8 in the fourth but the Rebels held on to take the win.
Noah Beck led Carroll with 22 points while Logan Taylor added 18 points and Reese Fulton added 13 points.
Carroll boys 60, Sylva-Bay 47
The Rebels advanced in the first round of the MAIS Overall Tournament on Tuesday at Mississippi College.
Reese Fulton led the Rebels with 18 points and 19 rebounds while Logan Taylor had 13 points, five assists and four rebounds. Austin Smith had eight points and six rebounds while Morgan Mims had six points and six rebounds. Noah Bech also had six points and three rebounds.
