Photo: Jaylyn Tyler of Olive Branch led all scorers with 33 points against Southaven Saturday night. (Bob Bakken/desotocountynews.com)
We now know the pairings for the quarterfinal round of the Mississippi state high school basketball playoffs. Four DeSoto County teams will be headed to Mississippi Valley State University on Feb. 24 to try to punch a ticket to the MHSAA 6A state Final Four at Mississippi Coliseum.
Saturday night, the Olive Branch Conquistadors defeated Southaven 80-78 in round two of the MHSAA 6A boys’ playoffs to advance to the quarterfinal round. Olive Branch will play Madison Central in the last game of a four-game day of basketball between two girls’ games and two boys’ games. Game time will be 8:30 p.m.
Key free throws from Jaylyn Tyler and Javion Stevens late in the game aided the Conquistadors to the come-from-behind victory, the third of the season against the cross-county rivals. Tyler’s charities were part of a game-high 33-point night that included 15 free throws. Stevens finished with only five points but was 3-of-4 in the final moments of the victory.
Trey Wall finished with 16 and Caleb Hunt had 14 for Olive Branch. Kam House led Southaven with 22 points in the loss, Ian Jeffries scored 16, and Zy Pryor had 11.
Olive Branch took the early lead in the first quarter at 15-8 with 2:17 left in the quarter and led 17-13 at quarter’s end. Tyler scored six of the Quistors’ 17 points in the opening eight minutes.
But Southaven recovered and midway through the second quarter had a 27-19 lead. Southaven led 39-28 at halftime. Cael Jones had nine points for the Chargers in the quarter, including a pair of three-pointers.
Jaylyn Tyler shoots over a Southaven defender. (Bob Bakken/desotocountynews.com)
Olive Branch turned up the pressure in the second half, starting with the third quarter and the Southaven lead shrank to 47-43 with 2:55 left and the Quistors later tied the game at 54-54 when the quarter ended. Tyler took charge with 13 of Olive Branch’s 26 third-quarter points.
“We were trying to pressure the guards a little bit more so they couldn’t so easily throw the ball to the post,” Rombaugh said. “We had problems guarding their post players all night long.”
However, Southaven retook the advantage and led 70-64 with 3:50 left in the game. Olive Branch turned up the defensive pressure again to get within 75-72 with 1:30 remaining. Southaven took a 78-75 lead with 28.5 seconds left, but that would be the extent of their scoring as the Quistors scored the final five points of the game. Tyler would knock down two free throws with 11.8 seconds and Sanders hit 1-of-2 at the line for the two-point lead.
Jeffries scored eight points for Southaven in the final period and House was 7-of-9 at the free throw line with a basket for another nine points.
“This could have ended up very different tonight,” Rombaugh said. “We’re very fortunate to get the win to keep moving on. Hopefully we can learn from this.”
Southaven thought they had an extra chance to score coming very late in the game, but as Tyler drove with the ball down the sideline in front of the scoring table, a collision occurred that included Tyler and one of the officials, and the ball went out of bounds. Southaven thought the ball left the court off the Olive Branch player but despite vehement protests, Olive Branch was awarded the basketball.
Saturday was the third victory for Olive Branch over Southaven this season, having won 83-78 in November and 98-82 in December.
Here’s the Saturday DeSoto County scoreboard:
Saturday, Feb. 18
Prep boys’ basketball
MHSAA 6A second round
Olive Branch 80, Southaven 78
Friday, Feb. 24
Prep boys basketball
MHSAA 6A quarterfinals
at Mississippi Valley State University
Horn Lake vs. Starkville – 7 p.m.
Olive Branch vs. Madison Central – 8:30 p.m.
Prep girls basketball
MHSAA 6A quarterfinals
at Mississippi Valley State University
Horn Lake vs. Tupelo – 4 p.m.
Center Hill vs. Germantown (Madison) – 5:30 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 18 scores:
Prep baseball
Center Hill 2, Southaven 0
Madison Ridgeland 6, DeSoto Central 3
Madison Ridgeland 9, DeSoto Central 5
Lake Cormorant 10, New Albany 3
Hernando 5, Bayside 4
Hernando 5, Alma Bryant, Ala. 1
Lewisburg 2, East Union 0
Prep softball
Madison Central 8, Lewisburg 5
Madison Central 4, Lewisburg 1
Mississippi Wrestling Foundation state team dual meet
