It’s back to the Big House for Panthers of Amanda Elzy.
And this time they are taking a North 4A Tournament championship with them after Saturday night’s 57-45 victory over host team Corinth.
“Wow, this is awesome. I am so happy for all our guys and fans,” Elzy coach Gerald Glass said. “Our guys played like champs tonight and all the way through this tournament. We beat some good teams up here.”
Glass said Saturday night’s win was special because he got share it with his former coach at Elzy, Howard Brown. Brown retired four years ago after a long, successful career at the school and is now serving as his assistant coach on a part-time basis.
Senior center Janarius Middleton had a team-high 13 points and senior guard Rahkeem Lehaman added 10 as Elzy snapped Corinth’s 20-game home win streak.
“That’s special right there,” Glass said when told of breaking Corinth’s home dominance. “All these tough games we played on the road against teams from Memphis and Illinois are paying off. That’s why we did that so our guys can learn from those games. They are used to hostile environments like this and know how to keep their poise.”
Last year, Elzy lost to Corinth in the North 4A finals but went on to win the school’s first-ever boys basketball state championship, avenging that loss in the state title game.
The Panthers (29-5) will play in the state 4A semifinals at 2:30 p.m. March 4 against Raymond, which lost 60-48 to to Laurel Saturday in the South 4A title game. The winner will advance to face the Laurel-Corinth winner in the state finals on March 8.
Elzy trailed Corinth 13-12 at the end of the first quarter Saturday. The Panthers led 27-21 at the half and 39-33 at the end of three.
Glass has the Panthers on the verge of back-to-back state championships in a four-year tenure at his alma mater. He played on some successful Panther teams in the mid-1980s but never won a state title.
Glass got his first ring last year when he guided Elzy to its first-ever boys state title.
That was a special moment, but minutes after Saturday night’s win, he could hardly bring himself to think about what it would mean to bring home back-to-back championships.
“That would be huge. We could really start to build something here and leave a legacy and make these younger guys hungry to keep this thing going.”
