Pascagoula edges Canton 67-65 in Madison County Invitational Championship
CAMDEN — The duo of Dorian McMillian and Kelan Rich have been big for Pascagoula all season.
The two came up big when it mattered most in the fourth quarter as the Panthers held on to beat Canton 67-65 in a Top 10 showdown to claim the inaugural Madison County Boys Invitational Tournament Championship at Velma Jackson on Friday night.
“It was a battle," Pascagoula coach Lorenzo Wright said. "And Canton is a really good ball club. Both Dorian and Kelan stepped up for us and I super proud of them. This was a total team effort and team win, and the young guys played great off the bench. It's a good win for us.”
It was a back-and-forth game that featured seven lead changes.
Canton held a slim 14-12 lead at the end of the first quarter.
After the Tigers extended their lead out to 19-14 to begin the second quarter Pascagoula went on a 10-3 run to tie the game at 22 and from that point each team kept trading baskets. The Tigers and Panthers ended the first half tied 31-31.
Midway through the third quarter, Pascagoula got back-to-back baskets from Blake Nettles to take a 39-38 lead, and the Panthers had an answer for every Canton bucket for the rest of the quarter. They led it 48-46 heading into the fourth quarter.
McMillian and Rush combined to score 12 of Pascagoula’s 19 points in the fourth quarter. Rush hit a lay-up to give the Panthers a 66-61 lead with just under two minutes remaining.
DeAndre Lewis hit a lay-up for Canton to cut the Pascagoula lead to 66-65 late, but Chris North hit a free throw to give the Panthers the 65-67 lead with 16 seconds left, and a last chance three-pointer for Canton bounced off the rim with two seconds left.
“It was a game of possessions," Wright said. "They did a good job of making adjustments of getting the ball inside and we had no answer for it. But we did a good job of rebounding and getting baskets in key moments. This is our third win in three days against really good teams, and we’ve got a veteran group that’s been through some battles and that’s what helped us get through this game.”
McMillian and Rush each scored 18 points to lead the top-ranked Panthers, while Nettles added 14 points and Markvese Grady chipped in 10 points for Pascagoula (14-1). McMillian was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament.
“We had to trust each other throughout the game, make plays and fight through adversity,” McMillian said. “We’re a back-and-forth team, so if they got a bucket we had to match it and that’s what we did all game. Me and Kelan have played together all our lives and we know where we are on the court, so we feed off each other. This is a big win for us.”
DeAndre Lewis had a game-high 22 points to lead Canton, while Jamarion Fleming added 20 points for the third-ranked Tigers (13-2).
“It felt like an old school game with both teams going back-and-forth and this is the most points we’ve given up all year," Canton coach Brian Townsend said. "They didn’t really run anything, they just did a great job of scoring. We made some costly turnovers when we really needed some baskets and we didn’t do a good job of feeding our big guy down the stretch.”
