McCOMB &045; Wilkinson County head coach Henry Story probably knew his Wildcats would be in for a tough game against the Amite (La.) High School Trojans Friday night.

And after getting off to a sluggish start, the Wildcats got things going, especially in the fourth quarter, to take a 69-65 win over the Trojans to advance to the championship game of the McComb Tournament.

Bryant Spiller led Wilkinson County (14-3) with 27 points, nine assists, four rebounds and two blocked shots. He also connected on six 3-pointers.

Timothy Jarvis had 20 points, including three 3s, four rebounds and four assists. Bernard Robinson added 14 points, including one 3-pointer, and two boards.

&uot;Last night it was the second quarter that was the difference,&uot; Wilkinson County head coach Henry Story said. &uot;Tonight it was the fourth quarter. That’s when they started playing defense.&uot;

The Wildcats cut into a 10-point deficit during the second and third quarters, then outscored the Trojans 23-13 in the final quarter to take the win.

&uot;We missed a lot of open shots in the first quarter,&uot; Story said. &uot;We played a lot better than the score indicated after three quarters.&uot;

The Wildcats took their first lead of the game at 60-59 with 3:15 left in the game.

Wilkinson County will play the in the boys championship game at 6:30 p.m. today.

South Pike girls 57, Wilkinson County 39

McCOMB &045; The Lady Eagles turned a close game into a one-sided contest with outburst

in the second and third quarters to elimi-

inate the Lady Wildcats (6-8) from the McComb Tournament.

South Pike led by just one, 10-9, at the end of the first quarter, but then outscored WCHS 19-10 in the second quarter and 17-6 in the third quarter to take a 46-25 lead into the fourth quarter.

Latasha Williams led the Lady Wildcats with 13 points and Rosalyn Lacey had 10 points.

Jefferson County boys 63, Murrah 56

JACKSON &045; The Tigers (5-8) took a big lead late in the fourth quarter, only to almost let it slip away. Yet they still held on for the 7-point win Friday night in the Jackson Public Schools/Pepsi Holiday Tournament.

Dewones Smith led a balanced scoring attack for Jefferson County with 18 points. Josh Nichols had 14 points and Juan Wyatt had 13 points.

&uot;The kids now know that they have to play hard,&uot; Tigers head coach Marcus Walton said. &uot;With any bad game, any bad quarter, that could end the season.&uot;

Jefferson County jumped on Murrah early and took a 16-9 lead at the end of the first quarter.

&uot;We wanted to attack early,&uot; Walton said. &uot;We turned our defense up and got a lot of easy layups early. Once the guys got their confidence, that was the turning point in the game.&uot;

Murrah outscored the Tigers 11-8 in the second quarter and trailed just 24-20 at the half.

Once again, JCHS turned up the defense, this time in the third quarter in going on an 18-7 run to take a 42-27 lead going into the fourth quarter.

That’s where things got really wild.

&uot;We were up as much as 22 points in the fourth quarter,&uot; Walton said, &uot;and the kids lost their focus in the last three minutes and didn’t put the game away.&uot;

Murrah ended up outscoring the Tigers 29-21, but it was not quite enough.

Trinity Episcopal boys 61, Columbia Academy 56

McCOMB &045; Dudley Guice Jr. had a double-double with 27 points and 15 rebounds as the Saints recovered from a slow start to take a five-point win over Columbia Academy at the Parklane Tournament.

Chase Brown added 15 points and Gregory Ketchings had 13 points.

Trinity (8-2) won the game by outscoring the Cougars 19-6 in the fourth quarter.

&uot;It was a very strong second half against a very good team,&uot; Saints head coach David King said. &uot;They (Columbia) were 10-1 going into the game.&uot;

Perhaps the Saints showed some effects from the Christmas holiday as they trailed 21-10 going into the second quarter.

&uot;That’s what happens when you miss two or three days for the holiday,&uot; King said. &uot;We weren’t defending well. We weren’t boxing out a soul.&uot;

Trinity started turning the game and the momentum in the second quarter, outscoring Columbia 19-9 to trail by just one, 30-29, at halftime.

The Cougars appeared to take that momentum back in the third quarter when they outscored the Saints 20-13 to up their lead to 50-42 going into the fourth quarter &045; that was until the Saints made their furious final-quarter rally to win the game.

&uot;I liked the way we played in the second half,&uot; King said. &uot;We came back strong in the fourth quarter. We came out with a lot of intensity in the second half.&uot;

The Saints play host Parklane at 7:15 p.m. today.

New Iberia (La.) boys 65, Natchez High 44

LAFAYETTE,&160;La. &045; Eleven players ended up scoring for New Iberia, led by NaKavin Gardner with 13 points and Brian Hypolite with 12 points, in the 21-point win over the Bulldogs (7-9).

New Iberia held a narrow 19-13 lead over Natchez at the end of the first quarter. That would be as close as the Bulldogs would get for the rest of the game.

New Iberia outscored Natchez 23-8 in the second quarter to put the game away.

Damorris Merrick led the Bulldogs with 10 points.

Natchez High plays St. Frederick at 5 p.m. today.

ASH boys 77, Block 46

JENA, La. &045; The Bears fell behind early and could not recover against a good ASH team as the Trojans cruised to the big win to eliminate the Bears from the Jena Tournament Friday night.

Demon Dotson led ASH with 26 points and Charles Blue had 22 points.

Jeremy Washington led Block (1-9) with 20 points.

&uot;We started off flat,&uot; Bears head coach Carl Gilmore said. &uot;We didn’t move. We didn’t hustle. We didn’t get too many free throws. We played a flat game.&uot;

ASH jumped out to a 19-9 lead after one quarter of play and then increased its lead to 35-19 at halftime.

&uot;They were getting the loose balls and the layups,&uot; Gilmore said.

The fourth quarter was the big quarter for the Trojans, who outscored the Bears 26-13 en route to the 31-point win.

The Bears will next play in the Sicily Island Tournament against Harrisonburg at 7 p.m. Thursday.

ASH girls 63, Block 62

JENA, La. &045; The Lady Bears (6-4) held a 2-point halftime, then ended up two points short of reaching the girls championship game of the Jena Tournament with a heartbreaking 1-point loss to the Lady Trojans Friday night.

The Lady Bears will play the loser of the Harrisonburg-Jena game in the consolation game at 3 p.m. today. They then play Harrisonburg in the Sicily Island Tournament at 5:15 p.m. Thursday.

Dani McMillan led Block with 22 points and Catessa Branch had 16 points.

Block trailed by three, 16-13, going into the second quarter. Then the Lady Bears outscored the Lady Trojans 19-14 to take a 32-30 halftime lead.

ASH then had a 17-14 advantage in the third quarter to take a 47-46 lead going into the the fourth quarter.

Block had its chances to win a game that went back and forth and had several lead changes, but each team ended up scoring 16 points for the final score.