WEBB — West Tallahatchie High School senior shooting guard Marquis Orange Jr. has been named a fourth team “Best of MS PREPS All-State Boys’ Basketball” selection by The Clarion-Ledger of Jackson.
For the 2015-16 season, Orange averaged 17.3 points, 8.2 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 2.6 steals and connected on 60 3-pointers.
In the Class 2A state championship game on March 11, Orange scored 11 points and recorded 13 rebounds in helping the Choctaws defeat the Coahoma Agricultural High School Tigers 52-43 at the Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson. For his work, Orange was named the “Class 2A C Spire Player of the Game.”
Orange helped the Choctaws to their first state title for any West Tallahatchie athletic program other than track and field and the first state championship for any basketball team in Tallahatchie County.
The Choctaws, who finished the season with a perfect record of 34-0, became the first Mississippi boys’ roundball team in 31 years, since 1985, to achieve an undefeated season on the court.
Earlier in the 2015-16 season, the Choctaws became the first Tallahatchie County varsity boys’ basketball team to complete a regular season with an unblemished mark (27-0). The rare feat had last been achieved by a Mississippi boys’ squad in 2010.
In their final boys’ basketball poll of the year, a postseason poll, West Tallahatchie was ranked at No. 10 in The Clarion-Ledger’s High School Boys’ Basketball “Super 10” poll, which includes the best basketball teams in the state regardless of classification.
Of course, West Tallahatchie finished the season as the top-ranked team in Class 2A, followed by Coahoma Aggie (20-11) at No. 2, Calhoun City (25-4) at No. 3, Baldwyn (27-5) at No. 4 and St. Joe-Madison (24-4) at No. 5.
West Tally’s boys held down the top spot in the 2A poll for all but the opening week of the 2015-16 season, when they were unranked.
Boys’ “Coach of the Year” honors went to Luther Riley, who guided Columbus to a Class 6A state championship and a 27-5 record.
In Class 2A girls’ ranks, state champ Ingomar (34-5) finished the year No. 1 in The Clarion-Ledger poll, followed by Heidelberg (32-1), Pelahatchie (28-2), Newton (25-9) and Coahoma County (25-5).
The Lady Choctaws of West Tallahatchie, who finished the season 28-5 after a quarterfinals loss in the state tournament in Jackson, had been state-ranked for much of the 2015-16 campaign. For three weeks in November, the Lady Choctaws had been ranked No. 1 among 2A girls in The Clarion-Ledger poll.
For a second straight year, both West Tallahatchie varsity basketball squads were Region 2-2A champions.
