With the score at 79-79 with 9.7 seconds remaining in overtime, Trinity senior guard Kris Thomson walked over to the Saint bench after being fouled and put his fingers to his lips in a hush motion toward Trinity head coach David King and his teammates.

Thomson then went to the end of the bench and put his head down, concentrating on what was ahead.

Thomson then went out and hit the first of a one-and-one, but missed the second one. Briarfield missed at two attempts to win and the Saints claimed the district title.

&uot;The last bad game I had was against Centreville,&uot; Thomson said. &uot;I wasn’t hitting my shot, I was just playing defense. I went to the foul line and was missing there. Coach (David King) was telling me to snap my wrists, bend my knees and all kind of stuff like that. I told him, ‘Coach, just let me shoot it.’&uot;

Which is what Thomson was thinking when he went to the bench.

&uot;When I put my finger to my lips he just said, &uot;Get out there and shoot it,’&uot; Thomson said. &uot;I should have made both of them.&uot;

There wasn’t much Thomson did miss this night, scoring 37, including all nine of Trinity’s overtime points in the 80-79 win.

Thomson may have got a little quiet from King at that moment, but quiet was definitely not the word of the night at the Trinity gym Saturday.

It started with Huntington’s overtime loss to Briarfield, built way up in Trinity’s girls’ tough 42-39 loss to Tensas, and reached the maximum in the thrilling win by the Saints, who trailed 19-0 in the first quarter.

William McGehee has played football and basketball at Trinity for several years, but he said he has never heard the gym as noisy as it was Saturday evening.

&uot;I couldn’t even hear myself yelling,&uot; McGehee said.

It had been 20 years since Trinity’s girls had played for a district championship and they had the tough task of taking on a Tensas Academy team that had won the previous four, usually battling Huntington for the championship.

Trinity and Tensas battled hard back and forth.

While the first quarter was dominated by defense and perhaps a few jitters (Tensas led 3-2 with three minutes remaining), the fourth quarter was an up-and-down point exchange that saw no lead bigger than four points.

The contest was actually tied at 34-34.

It took Robin Rae Burns’ two free throws with 16.9 seconds remaining to give the Lady Chiefs a 42-39 win, which left Trinity’s girls in tears.

But Trinity’s girls had no reason to feel low, although you would probably worry if they weren’t upset.

Past Trinity teams would be happy with getting close against a team like Tensas. It shows how far this team has come to be so disappointed with a narrow loss.

As for the boys. Not since Clyde Adams, who the gym is named after, has their been as much excitement as there was Saturday night in the jam-packed building.

And don’t think the coaches and players didn’t appreciate the support.

King even credited the crowd with helping his team overcome the 19-point first quarter deficit.

&uot;They got us back into it,&uot; King said. &uot;That’s one reason why we’re 42-4 on this court the last four years.&uot;

And the crowd was rewarded with one of the most exciting games to be played at Trinity.

Basketball is a team game, but the toe-to-toe battled by Thomson and Briarfield’s Tony Howard will be talked about for years.

&uot;I didn’t really look at it like that,&uot; said Thomson, who had to pick up the slack in overtime after Bobby Craig and Chad Ridley had fouled out. &uot;I was thinking of doing it more for the team. He happened to be doing about everything for them. He does play a lot like me.&uot;

It was definitely a team win for the Saints. And that team extended all the way around the court.

Joey Martin is sports editor of The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached at 446-5172 ext. 232 or by e-mail at joey.martin@natchezdemocrat.com.