The Montgomery County basketball team advanced to the second round of the MHSAA playoffs with a 67-53 victory over Lumberton Tuesday. The Hornets (20-9) will play West Lowndes Saturday in Columbus.
“We played as good a first half as we have all season,” said coach Frank Miller. The Hornets led 42-18 at the half and hit four 3-point shots early. “That jump-started us,” Miller said.
Lumberton cut the deficit to 12 in the second half, but couldn't get any closer.
Decoreyon Small led the Hornets with 27 points, including 14 of 17 from the free throw line. Katazion Winfrey had 16 and Deterrious Williams 10.
It was the 100th win for Miller in his five years as Hornets' coach.
Montgomery County qualified for the playoffs and home court in the opening round as runerup in the 5-1A tournament. Lumberton (11-13) was third in 8-1A.
West Lowndes advanced with a victory over Piney Woods.
Montgomery County had a chance to win the MHSAA 5-1A at Coffeeville last Friday, but fell just short, literally and figuratively.
With 10 seconds left, a Coffeeville basket gave the Pirates a 62-60 lead. Williams attempted a 3-point shot at the buzzer to give Montgomery County the championship. “It hit the front of the rim,” said Hornets' coach Frank Miller.
For Montgomery County, it was a much better performance than 10 days earlier when Coffeeville beat the Hornets 80-50. “That was their senior night and everything they threw up went in,” Miller said. “We made up our minds that that wasn't going to happen again.”
In the tournament final, Miller said his team defended better and was “more aggressive on offense, getting the ball to the rim.”
Small led Montgomery County with 24 points and made 10 of 12 from the free throw line. Williams scored 15 points and Winfrey had 11.
The Hornets came into the tournament as the fourth seed with four straight losses. An opening round 65-54 victory over Ethel assured Montgomery County a spot in the playoffs and a come from behind 57-53 semifinals win over top seed McAdams meant home court to begin the playoffs.
“It was a game of two halves,” Miller said of the win over Ethel. “The first half was terrible. The second half was pretty good.”
The Hornets trailed 19-18 at intermission, then outscored Ethel 47-35 over the final 16 minutes. “We just got a few of our shots to go down. When the shots started falling, we got in a rhythm.”
Small scored 31 points.
Against McAdams, the Hornets overcame a 45-36 third quarter deficit by outscoring Bulldogs 21-8 in the final period. “We made a few shots, we got a few steals and it got momentum going,” Miller said. “The first time we led the game was with about two minutes to go.
Winfrey scored 22 points and Small had 20.
Small was chosen as 5-1A offensive player of the year by region coaches and Winfrey made the all-region team.
