Zay Fortenberry, Cam Lewis help Petal survive 55-53 nail-biter against Warren Central

PETAL – The new mantra for postseason basketball is, “survive and advance.”

That was the theme that played out at the Petal High gym, as the highly-touted Panthers escaped an upset bid on the part of Warren Central to come away with a 55-53 victory Tuesday night in the first round of the Class 6A boys basketball playoffs.

Petal (22-4), ranked fifth in the state, moved on to battle at Pascagoula Saturday in the second round.

“In the playoffs, sometimes that’s what it takes, survive and advance,” said Petal coach Brandon Jennings. “We didn’t play very good defense, we didn’t play our offense well, we didn’t get back in transition.”

Warren Central looked nothing like a team that was 8-15 overall coming into the State Tournament after getting out of the Region 6-6A Tournament as the No. 3 seed.

MORE: Check out the MHSAA Class 6A Tournament Bracket

“Hat’s off to Warren Central,” said Jennings. “They came in here with a good game plan and I thought they got after us. So, hat’s off to them, but our guys are better than what they showed tonight.”

The Vikings attacked the strength of Petal’s defense, the front line dominated by 6-foot-6 Christian Parks, and they had success getting to the rim in the first half.

 “The first half, I didn’t play real well,” said Parks. “When they got the lead on us, I knew I had to step up. We had a long talk at halftime, the coaches were getting us hyped up and we came out and played better defense in the second half.”

After a lively back-and-forth in the first quarter — one that saw six lead changes and four ties — Warren Central took the momentum and built up as much as a nine-point lead, that coming at 30-21 when sophomore Gaylon Turner completed a fast-break layup.

Senior Zay Fortenberry kept the Panthers in the game in the first half, and the Vikings hurt themselves by missing at least a half-dozen layups.

“We came out with a slow start, but we came back out in the second half, and we knew we had to finish the deal,” said Fortenberry. 

“Second half, we had to slow it down a lot. The first half, there were a lot of forced shots, and we were moving just a little too fast. We weren’t getting into the offense and weren’t making the extra pass, but we fixed that in the second half.”

Fortenberry completed a fast break with a layup, then hit a 12-foot jumper to close the margin to 32-27 at halftime.

“We talked about getting back in transition, boxing out,” said Jennings. “Offensively, we changed some things around. We put Jamar Jenkins at the free throw line, try to get him the basketball.

“I thought we came out of the locker room for the second half a lot more locked-in from the way we started the game.”

The third quarter proved decisive as Petal regained the momentum, led by senior Cam Lewis, who scored 10 of his 15 points in the third, plus he also finished with nine rebounds.

Lewis got Petal going in the second half by hitting a 14-foot jump shot, drawing a foul and converting the free throw for a three-point play.

He also had a putback layup, a 3-pointer from the right wing and a fast-break layup in an 11-0 run that turned the game in the Panthers’ favor.

“We knew we had to strike back,” said Lewis. “We didn’t play real good defense tonight, but it’s going to get better, and we still get to practice.”

Petal never trailed the rest of the way, but the Panthers didn’t put it away either.

With seconds ticking off the third-quarter clock and the Panthers looking to extend their lead, Turner tipped a pass, ran it down for a steal and got the fast-break layup as the horn sounded.

The Vikings opened the fourth quarter the same way, pulling to within one, 45-44, after a long possession that saw them get four offensive rebounds and draw three Petal fouls before getting a putback by Garrett Fisher.

But Lewis answered with a putback, then senior Jamar Jenkins got a steal to set up a successful fast break and a 50-44 lead with 3:55 to play.

Again, Warren Central refused to go quietly, as senior Taylor Mitchell swished a 3-pointer from the right baseline. This time, Jenkins came through, with a fast-break layup and two foul shots.

That would prove to be enough, though not before the Panthers made it interesting by missing five of six foul shots in the final 31 seconds of the game. 

However, Petal got those opportunities because Abrams, then Parks got their hands on missed free throws to keep possession. 

And Abrams’ lone made free throw with 6.9 seconds left gave the Panthers the 55-50 lead that allowed a buzzer-beating trey by Viking junior Deonta Segrest to be of no significance.

“It was a long talk (in the postgame locker room),” said Fortenberry. “We’ve got a lot of things we got to get fixed from tonight.”

Fortenberry finished with 15 points and six assists, and Lewis also had 15 points and added nine rebounds. Parks only scored 4 points, but he finished with 16 rebounds and 7 blocks. Fisher had 16 points for Warren Central to lead all scorers. 

“Christian’s a fantastic kid,” said Jennings. “Great player, but he’s not one of those kids who’s going to say a lot, not going to let his emotions get to him; he’s just going to show up every night. He’s answered the call.”

Pascagoula comes into the playoffs with a 16-12 overall record but earned a bye through the first round by winning the Region 7-6A Tournament last week.

“I’ve got some film on them,” said Jennings. “I know they’re all athletic. We’re just going to have to show up and play our style of basketball.”