JACKSON — Leflore County showed marked improvement in its third shot at defending state 2A champion Coahoma County — but not enough to derail the Red Panthers’ bid for a repeat.
After losing by 19 and 22 points to Coahoma early in the season, this one went down to the wire, with Leflore falling 49-42 here Tuesday in the state 2A semifinals at the Mississippi Coliseum.
Fans from Itta Bena were loud and proud at the Big House, outnumbering Coahoma 3 to 1, but it wasn’t enough to pull the Tigers into the championship game.
Leflore ends an incredible turnaround season at 24-7 after going 12-18 a year ago.
“Even though we wanted more and are disappointed right now, I couldn’t be more proud of a group than I am right now of this bunch,” Leflore coach Jeremy Gilbert said.
Darius McClung’s layup with 3:20 to play pulled the Tigers within three, 43-40, but Leflore managed just two points the rest of the way. In the second half, Leflore shot just 9 of 31 (29 percent) from the field and was a mere 2 of 10 from foul line.
“The shots just didn’t fall, and it’s like that some times,” Gilbert said.
His team never led in the game and was down by as much as 11 in the third period. Coahoma used a momentum-shifting 8-0 run for a 31-20 advantage. The scoring spurt included three straight high-flying, thunderous, breakaway slam dunks by Markevious Phillips, who finished with a game-high 18 points.
But the Tigers weathered the storm and trailed 37-31 going into the fourth.
Joe McGee led Leflore with a double-double (12 points, 11 rebounds). Willie Dixon also had 12 points to go with five rebounds.
McClung chipped in with 11 points, three assists and three steals.
Coahoma (25-6) faces Bay Springs (26-3) in the title game at 3 p.m. Friday.
