Joshua Day had 16 points and came up with a pivotal late steal to help Jefferson County High School stave off Natchez High School 59-58 in boys basketball action Thursday night.

“It’s always good to win,” Jefferson County coach Marcus Walton said. “We had a lot of mental mistakes — we kept them on the free-throw line in the first half. Emotionally, big crowd, the kids got caught up in the game, and that came back to haunt us. We didn’t play with the mental aspect of the game that we’ve been taught.”

Clinging to a two-point advantage with approximately 30 seconds remaining, Day ripped away a loose ball. The junior guard was later fouled and connected on 1 of 2 free throws to put his squad ahead by three.

Day finished with eight rebounds, three steals and added two steals. Rashard Short had 15 points, while Nico Griffin chipped in with 12 points.

“One thing about this team is we have a lot of experience,” Walton said. “They’re a very experienced group, and they’re a very close group. They’ve been together for a while.”

Natchez fired up a 3 from the left wing, but Izzy Holmes’ shot hit strong off the back iron. Ty Terrell came up with the rebound and put back, but time had run out on the Bulldogs.

“I think the kids gave great effort all night,” Natchez coach David Haywood said. “Games like this, kids need it. It’s competition, and it just sets them up for life; you’re going to have to compete for jobs. Both teams competed. We made runs, and they made runs.”

Natchez had chances down the stretch, but the Bulldogs turned the ball over on two of their final three possessions.

“It was great effort overall, but a couple mental mistakes in the end,” Haywood said. “But we’ve a great team and coaches, and I love working with these guys. I just want to continue to improve from this game on up to region play.”

Natchez got into a hole midway through the third after center Larry Griffin headed to the bench with his fourth foul.

The Tigers then had their way inside, gobbling up offensive rebounds and second-chance points.

Griffin finished with six points, eight rebounds and three blocks.
“He rebounds and changes shots on the defensive end,” Haywood said. “It’s hard to replace him. You have to do it by a committee. … We had to go small, and some of those tips (rebound chances), normally he’ll grab those.”

Holmes led Natchez with a game-high 23 points.

The two teams will face each other next Friday with Natchez slated as the host team.

Jefferson County (girls) 65, Natchez 58

Kirdis Clark scored 25 points and did her best to propel Natchez to a win Thursday, but a dynamic trio from Jefferson County proved to be too much.

Kailyn Hammett, Antrell Gales and Dea’Breaun Turner combined for 56 points to lead the Lady Tigers to a 65-58 win.

“Natchez is a good team, but the results are what I expected them to be,” Jefferson County coach Flora McKnight said. “I felt like we could beat Natchez if we slowed the game down and were patient.”

Natchez led 31-30 at halftime, but a strong third quarter put Jefferson County ahead, and the Lady Tigers never looked back.

“Second half, we didn’t have a lot of energy coming out,” Natchez coach Tim Richardson said. “We had lapses on defense and gave up a lot of layups. We really didn’t play our best defensive game in the second half like we did in the first half.”

Hammett led the Lady Tigers with 25 points, while Turner had 18 and Gales finished with 13.

“Kailyn is super and is a coach on and off the floor,” McKnight said. “She can score and handle the ball, she can pass it, she can rebound, she just loves the game.”

Turner’s inside presence replaced the void left by current Copiah-Lincoln freshman Diamond Smith, a two-time Natchez Democrat All-Metro MVP winner.

“A lot of people didn’t know about Turner, but I still think we have the best three in the Miss-Lou,” McKnight said.

Aja Carter had 13 points for the Lady Bulldogs.

“We need to get back to somebody having more heart for our team and stepping up,” Richardson said. “Making more defensive plays and hitting free throws at the right time when we need them.”