CORINTH — Amanda Elzy started the season with one goal — get back to Jackson to have a chance to defend its state championship.
The Panthers are now one win away from doing just that after Thursday night’s 66-50 victory over Houston at Corinth High School in the North 4A Tournament quarterfinals. Senior center Janarius Middleton made sure of that with an incredible second half to help his team advance to tonight’s semifinals against Rosa Fort.
Middleton, the Region 3 player of the year for the second straight season, scored 22 of 26 points in the second half and pulled down 19 rebounds. He was 9-of-10 from the field and 8-of-10 from the foul line to give him an average of 21 points a game in Elzy’s four postseason games.
“(Middleton) has been our horse all year. If he has a bad half, you can bet he’s going to come back with a great performance,” Elzy coach Gerald Glass said. “I just really can’t say enough about what he has meant to this team.”
Elzy, 27-5, led the entire game, but Houston used a 10-0 run in the fourth quarter to pull within five, 49-44, with 3:28 to play. Shoren Wright started the scoring spurt with a 3-pointer, and senior center Chris Jones capped it with a layup. Middleton then scored four straight points to give the Panthers a little breathing room. Houston’s Anquan Russell hit a 3-pointer to make it 53-47, but the Hilltoppers never got any closer down the stretch.
“We hung in there and fought hard when I felt some calls went against us and (we were) in a little foul trouble,” said Glass, who was hit with a technical foul early in the fourth — one minute after Jones was ejected for Houston after getting his second technical. “But that’s what championship teams do, fight through adversity. We played like defending champs tonight.”
Elzy put an exclamation point on the win by scoring the final six points of the contest — all on dunks. Senior point guard Rahkeem Lehaman had two of those, including a 360 dunk that electrified the crowd with 28 seconds to play.
Lehaman finished with nine points and had a team-high seven assists.
Junior guard Maurice Dunlap, a Mississippi State commitment, was 3-of-4 from 3-point range and finished with 15 points. Dekarius Prayer added nine.
Outside of Middleton’s domination of the big man battle with Jones, a MSU football signee as a defensive end, it was Gerald Glass Jr. who had the most eye-popping stat. The junior forward was credited with 23 rebounds.
“Dang, I never had 23 rebounds in a game,” said the elder Glass, a former All-SEC player at Ole Miss.
Elzy, which beat Houston 72-66 in last year’s North 4A quarterfinals, led from start to finish in this one. The Panthers led 16-9 at the end of the first period, 24-18 at the half and 39-30 at the end of three.
Russell had a team-high 20 points for Houston, which finishes the season at 22-6. Jones added 11 points.
Tonight’s semifinal contest against Rosa Fort is set for 7:30. Rosa Fort defeated Shannon 70-51 on Thursday. The winner will play in Saturday’s 7 p.m. title game against the Corinth-Noxubee County winner.
“Rosa Fort has a good team, but everybody you play at this point is going to be good. Our guys know what’s at stake. I won’t have to say anything,” Coach Glass said. “I know we will play hard. I just hope we do better with our decision making.”
• Contact Bill Burrus at 581-7237 or bburrus@gwcommonwealth.com. Follow on Twitter:@Bill_Burrus.
