JACKSON — The West Tallahatchie High School Choctaws were two seconds away from punching their ticket to the state title game for a second straight year.
Milton McGee’s 3-pointer put the defending Class 2A state champion Choctaws ahead 54-52 with two ticks remaining on the game clock.
The thrill of victory seemed all but certain, and then the improbable occurred.
Baldwyn’s Calvin Harris took teammate Michael Crump’s inbounds pass from just beyond the half-court line, turned and lofted a buzzer-beating shot that sailed through the net.
The last-second trey gave the Bearcats (29-4) a 55-54 win in the semifinals match of the Mississippi High School Activities Association 2A Boys Basketball Championships Tuesday afternoon at the Mississippi Coliseum.
“It just wasn’t meant to be for us today,” said West Tally head coach Bernard Berryhill. “It wasn’t meant to be. As painful as the loss was, I can accept that knowing that we left it all out there on the floor.”
When asked, Berryhill refused to give credence to the social media rantings of some Choctaws fans who charged that the game clock expired after McGee’s shot and Baldwyn was gifted a bonus possession and time.
“I really don’t think so,” said Berryhill. “I’m saying there was time left, but that’s me. I’m not certain.”
The coach shied away from any suggestion of unfairness in late game clock operations.
“Nah, I’m not going to go there,” he noted. “That’s not the road I want to travel.”
Berryhill said the closing seconds never should have mattered so much.
“We left too many opportunities out there,” he said. “A turnover here, a missed rebound assignment there. You’ve got to make those plays. And if you don’t make those plays, these are the types of things that could come up. We had enough in our hands to determine the outcome, whether there was time left or not.”
The game proved to be a seesaw battle from the start.
Baldwyn led 15-12 after one quarter and 30-28 at the half. The Choctaws were down by six, 36-30, with 5:56 in the third but clawed their way back to cut the deficit to 39-37 at the end of the period.
The Choctaws trailed the Bearcats 45-41 at 4:35 in the fourth but went on an 8-3 run to take a 49-48 lead with 1:03 remaining. West Tally was down 52-51 with 10 seconds left when they began the possession that led to McGee’s 3.
McGee, a junior, led the Choctaws with 19 points. Dan Locke added 12, Kenterrace Speight 10, Elijah Powell 9 and Tyler Berryhill, the coach’s son, contributed 4 points with eight assists.
Locke was injured before the intermission and was limited in the second half.
“That hurt,” the coach said.
Still, Berryhill noted that the Choctaws, who finished 28-6, demonstrated fierce determination down the stretch.
“I was proud of them for the effort they put out there,” he noted. “The game was a microcosm of the year. The guys fought with heart, they played with heart, they had an ‘I’m not going to quit’ attitude until the very last shot.”
— * —
Berryhill praised his 2016-17 basketball team, particularly in light of the fact that few people outside of the inner circle had very high expectations of them.
The 2015-16 squad had run the table, compiling a 34-0 record and winning the program’s (and Tallahatchie County’s) first-ever basketball state crown.
After graduation hit the team hard, the defending state champs were not even ranked in some preseason polls.
“Coming off a perfect championship season, that was probably one of the biggest obstacles they had in front of them: following that up,” said Berryhill. “To watch these guys grow, accept the different roles that they had to take on and mature into the young men that were on the court in the state semifinals game was a joy, and it was an honor to be a part of.”
— * —
This year’s team has seven seniors on a roster of 18.
Four of those seniors — Tyler Berryhill, LaCedric Hines, Dan Locke and Kenterrace Speight — have played pivotal roles in helping the Choctaws achieve a cumulative record of 97-26 over the past four seasons, said the coach.
While acknowledging that the Choctaws will face a “reloading” process next season, Berryhill said he sees the potential for more greatness.
“With the leadership that McGee should bring and the experience that was gained by several other guys, we should be in the hunt again,” he noted. “The culture has changed, as far as I’m concerned. We’re not accepting anything less. The players want to be a part of something really, really good and that motivates them to work.”
