The Ocean Springs Greyhounds hit eight of eight free throws in the final 3:37 of the fourth quarter Friday night at home to shortcircuit a furious comeback from the Biloxi Indians and secure their ninth straight victory, 61-52.
In the girls game, the Lady Indians cruised from the get-go and waltzed to a 56-21 win, pushing their record to 13-1.
The Ocean Springs boys improved to 11-2 overall and, more importantly, 3-0 in district action. Biloxi drops to 8-4 and 2-1.
Greyhounds head coach Colin Goley called the victory, “A team effort, defensively and offensively, all the way around.”
“These district games are going to be wars,” Gooley added. “We are going to make runs and they are going to make runs. We just can’t get too high, can’t get too low. Stay level-headed and keep playing hard and good things will happen. I thought we did that. Kept our minds, kept our emotions in check. We just kept battling and the ball bounced our way.”
The Greyhounds and Indians were very aggressive in the first half, forcing numerous turnovers which led to some easy baskets. Maddox Noblitt scored 15 of his game-high 19 points in the first half to propel the ‘Hounds to a 33-22 lead at the break. Nine of his points were 3-pointers.
The highlight of the first half was a one-handed slam dunk by Ocean Springs senior Christian Bingham over a Biloxi defender who appeared poised to block the shot if a layup was attempted. Instead, Bingham outleaped the Biloxi defender for the dunk which brought the biggest roar from the crowd of the night.
Biloxi got back into the game late in the third quarter with a 10-2 run to pull within five points, 44-39.
The fourth quarter started with Ocean Springs quickly asserting itself to extend its lead to 51-41 with 4:11 remaining. The Hounds did this with Noblitt on the bench with four fouls.
That lead didn’t last long as Biloxi closed the gap to three points, 53-50, as Bryce Hooker buried a pair of 3-pointers from the left corner and Reggie Conner hit a three.
The Hounds sealed the win in the final 3:37 with the eight made free throws, four by Tyler Nesby and two apiece by Elijah Isom and Kalen Bradley.
“Those were really big-time free throws,” Gooldy said. “That’s a really good team we beat. We are 3-0 in the district now. I like where we are headed.”
Bingham finished with 17 points and Nesby added 11 including six of six from the charity stripe. The Greyhounds will play again in the Hoover (Alabama) Christmas tourney Dec 28-30.
Biloxi was led in scoring by Conner with 19 points Dayshawn MGee with 12 and Hooker with 10.
The girls game was all but over after one quarter with the Lady Indians leading 16-3. Still, Biloxi coach Devin Hill wasn’t pleased with his team’s performance.
“I’m a perfectionist,” he said with a smile. “We tend to have a lot of lulls. If you want to be good you have to be consistent. I just think we are not playing consistent right now. We are fighting really hard to try and get some consistency.”
Hill praised the effort the the Lady Hounds who were playing without their head coach LaShaunda Smith due to illness.
“It’s a testament to the type of team Lashaunda has over here,” he said. “I don’t think I could do that, be sick and miss our game. They didn’t miss a beat and played as hard as they possibly could play.
“I’m proud of our girls too. I said earlier in the year that we wanted to grow throughout the year, and tonight was one of those areas where we needed to grow.”
The Lady Indians, who will play Blount of Mobile on Monday, were led in scoring by Anari Meredith with 12 points, all on 3-pointers, and Zaniya Johnson with 11.
Starr Jackson had seven points to lead Ocean Springs, which is 2-9 overall and 0-3 in district play.