CRYSTAL SPRINGS &045; In basketball, and even in the playoffs, sometimes no lead is ever safe no matter how many points that team is ahead by.

A good example of that was Tuesday night’s Class 3A South State first-round matchup between the Region 7-3A No. 3 seed Jefferson County Tigers and the Region 6-3A No. 2 seed Crystal Springs Tigers.

Jefferson County trailed by as many as 18 points in the second quarter but a change of defense in the second half helped the visiting Tigers upset the host Tigers 72-65.

&uot;The kids showed poise and effort&uot; Jefferson County head coach Marcus Walton said. &uot;They said at halftime they refused to lose. They did not want this to be their last game.&uot;

Dudley Guice Jr. led Jefferson County with 26 points and Christoper Carradine had 17 points.

The Tigers will play the winner of the Tylertown-West Lauderdale game at the South State Tournament at 7 p.m. Thursday.

South State was originally scheduled to be held at Crystal Springs but will take place at another location, Walton said.

So how did Jefferson County (15-18) come back from an 18-point deficit at halftime and a 13-point halftime deficit? The halftime pep talk and a different defense.

&uot;We started in a 1-3-1 zone,&uot; Walton said. &uot;After a few mental breakdowns, we went to a straight man defense. In the fourth quarter, everyone stepped up.&uot;

Crystal Springs, which had four players score in double figures, led 18-10 at the end of the first quarter and 39-26 at the intermission.

Turnovers by Jefferson County

were also a big key in Crystal Springs jumping out to such a big lead.

&uot;The early part of the game we were turning the ball over,&uot; Walton said. &uot;By halftime we had 18 turnovers and they had 12 offensive rebounds. At halftime, we knew we had to cut down on that.&uot;

And Jefferson County not only did that, but the visiting Tigers’ man defense forced many of Crystal Springs’ 20 turnovers in the second half and converted them into easy baskets.

Jefferson County cut into Crystal Springs’ lead in the third quarter and trailed by just seven, 52-45, at the end of the quarter and then outscored the host team 27-13 in the fourth quarter to pull out the win.

&uot;Our leaders stepped up &045; Dudley, Joshfer (Nichols), and Chris,&uot; Walton said. &uot;Our supporters stepped up. We got great role play. As you can see, we haven’t had this many scorers all season.&uot;

Ocean Springs 71, Natchez 52

OCEAN SPRINGS &045; The Bulldogs could not salvage some of the same ingredients that put them into the final of the Division 6 tournament at Warren Central last week.

The Division 7 champion Greyhounds did not make Natchez’s trip to the scenic coast enjoyable, by jumping out early and never letting off the accelerator.

Ocean Springs, led by Tyler Conn’s 21 and Matt Levons’ 20 points, stormed ahead in the first quarter, outscoring the Bulldogs 23-13.

Natchez got a point back in the second to head into the break trailing by nine, 33-24, before the Greyhounds ran away with the game in the second half.

DaMorris Merrick led Natchez with 18 points.