Picayune fell 55-50 in the 5A State Championship to the Hattiesburg Tigers this past Saturday.

“The boys battled, they competed, we just didn’t manage in the last few minutes,” said Head Coach Eric Vianney. Vianney also mentioned how attention to detail and capitalizing on the “little stuff” impact a championship game.

“That’s how it goes in a championship game, you got to handle your stuff and try to win, somebody’s got to win and somebody’s got to lose. I’m just proud of these boys. When we started somewhere in December it was bad, but they found themselves and we turned the corner I’m proud for these boys to play their last game in here. I wish it was a different result for them, but Hattiesburg, they deserved it, they battled, they made the plays that mattered in the end, and we didn’t make enough.”

 

First Quarter

The first quarter ended with the Hattiesburg Tigers leading Picayune 16-10.

The tigers led 4-3 at the 5:40 mark. An assist from Jaheim Everett to Josh Holmes for a corner three gave Picayune a 6-4 lead. The tiger followed up with a 7-to-nothing scoring run. Tyran Warren shut their run down after hitting 2 foul shots. In the last 60 seconds, Tiger’s Logan Burns scored then with 2 seconds left Niqui Rattcliff shoots 1-2 from the strike.

 

Second Quarter

Troy Carter’s layup opened the quarter, followed by the Tigers’ Layup by Darrian Johnson then another Picayune score off Brunson Stockstill’s jump shot. With a little over 5:30 left Picayune trailed 18-14. The Tigers found a scoring rhythm and went on a 6-0 run. Vianney called a timeout and after the break, Holmes hits a jumper to stop Picayune’s slump. At the end of the half, Picayune trailed 29-21 but ended the quarter by outscoring Hattiesburg in the final 2 minutes.

 

Third Quarter

That energy carried over to the third as Picayune finished the quarter on top, 38-34.

Down 29-23 to start Warren assisted Dakeith Quinn, then Darrell smith got a steal for a layup, then Warren was fouled and shot 1-2 from the strike. At the 6:15 mark, Smith picked another still and this time handed it to Holmes to score. At this point, Picayune was within one point behind Hattiesburg, 29-28. Picayune finally lead again, the first time since leading 3-2 in the first quarter. Warren made a layup to put picayune up 30-29. From there, Quinn had a dunk-stopping block, where Holmes rebound, then threw the outlet pass to Quinn for a layup. At 4:15 Hattiesburg had to take a timeout to try and collect themselves. It didn’t work, Picayune came out of the break and scored and outscored Hattiesburg 6-3. With 1:11 left. With 44 seconds left the Tigers picked up a steal and scored to end the quarter down, 38-34.

 

Fourth Quarter

With 5:20 to play, Picayune led 42-39. The score would get even tighter, Picayune led 44-43, then 46-45 until Hattiesburg’s Stephen McCullon Jr. shots 2-2 from the strike. Tiger led didn’t last long as warren answered with his bucket to put Picayunes up by one. Then the lead switched again after a Hattiesburg tip-in. with 1:29 remaining the Tigers led 49-48. Picayune needed a run but couldn’t pull a lengthy one together since Hattiesburg continued to break their full-court pressure. In the end, there wasn’t enough time for a comeback, and in championship style, Hattiesburg’s Johnson slams down a fast-break dunk as the time runs off.

Stats

Quinn and Warren had 15 points for Picayune. Tiger’s McCullon had 14 points, Johnson had 13, and Christian Moody had 11 points.

 

Picayune finished their season 18-15 as 5A state runner-ups with an undefeated 7-0 5A Region 7 district season.