The West Tallahatchie High School Choctaws made history Friday by winning the Mississippi High School Activities Association’s Class 2A basketball state championship.
West Tally earned the title by defeating the Coahoma Aggie Tigers 52-43 at the Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson.
It is the first state title for any West Tallahatchie athletic program other than track and field, and the first state basketball championship won by any school in Tallahatchie County.
The Choctaws, the top-ranked team in 2A for all but the opening week of the 2015-16 basketball season, also become the first Mississippi boys’ roundball team in 31 years to achieve a perfect season record, at 34-0.
Until West Tally’s feat, a New Albany High School boys’ squad had been the last among all public school classifications to go undefeated in the regular season and postseason, finishing 36-0 in 1985.
“It’s surreal,” said West Tally boys’ head coach Bernard Berryhill, who during the 2014-15 campaign had guided his team to the program’s first semifinals appearance in the state tournament, where they suffered a narrow defeat to finish with what was then the Choctaws’ best-ever record, 25-5.
Earlier this season, the Choctaws became the first Tallahatchie County varsity boys’ basketball team, public or private, to complete a regular season with an unblemished mark (27-0). It had last been done in the state in 2010.
“We set out this year to make it farther than we did last year, which would put us in the championship game, and that’s just the way it worked out for us,” Berryhill said.
The magical manner in which the season unfolded made it take on the aura of “a fairy tale, or a movie or play with the perfect plot, the perfect script and the perfect, happy ending for West Tally,” the coach added.
Choctaws senior shooting guard Marquis Orange Jr., who was named the “Class 2A C Spire Player of the Game” for his 11-point, 13-rebound performance, said winning a state championship “feels great. The best feeling in the world.”
Orange said the goal all year was to run the table.
“We wanted to go undefeated, because some people weren’t giving us our respect. They were saying we weren’t playing anybody [during the season],” Orange noted. “In the end, we were unbeaten like no other team in Mississippi, so I say we’re the best.”
Berryhill said he spent the day before his team’s game at the state basketball tournament just basking in the sights and sounds of the coliseum and contemplating what lay ahead.
“I knew that after our game, things would be different. I didn’t know how different, but I knew they would be different,” he stated. “Now I know. And was I prepared? No way. The historical ramifications were beyond my imagination. I’m definitely glad to say I’m proud to be at West Tallahatchie and proud I’m a part of this moment.”
IN THE PHOTO: Members of the West Tallahatchie boys’ basketball team pose for celebratory photos with the Class 2A basketball state championship trophy, game ball and banner following the 52-43 win over Coahoma Aggie Friday, March 11, at the Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson. (Photo by Clay McFerrin)
