BROOKLYN – Since Scott Landry took over as boys basketball coach at Forrest County AHS, he has preached the gospel of aggressive man-to-man defense.
And that defense was way more than visiting Quitman could handle Monday night in the second round of the Class 4A playoffs at Ellis Shoemake Gymnasium, as the Aggies smothered the Panthers 50-35 to advance to the quarterfinal round.
FCAHS (22-8) will take on defending 4A state champion Raymond at 4 p.m. Saturday at Marvin R. White Coliseum on the Pearl River Community College campus in Poplarville with a trip to Jackson for the Final Four at stake. Quitman finished its season 17-9.
“That’s what we pride ourselves on,” said Landry. “We work on defense every single day in practice, and our guys buy into that concept. The last four weeks or so, we’ve taken it to another level. It’s about having pride and competing every single possession.”
Smothering – or maybe stifling – pretty succinctly describes what Forrest County did to the Panthers. The Aggies controlled the tempo, kept the ball out of Quitman’s hands , and turned it over at critical moments.
FCAHS forced 14 turnovers and held the Panthers to just 25 shots for the game. And it started right from the very first possession of the game, when senior guard Davion Cumbest stepped into Quitman’s passing lane for a steal.
“He’s invaluable to us, because he does some many things well,” said Landry. “He comes every day and works his tail off. He’s easy to coach.
“He did a great job on their best guard (sophomore Ethan Nicholson). He’s going to be a really good player for them, and Davion denied him the basketball almost the entire night. There’s a reason he was Defensive Player of the Year in our region, and he showed it tonight.”
Offensively, Forrest County was deliberate, and deliberately pounded the ball inside, where 6-foot-5 senior Calvin Alexander was dominant. Alexander had the Aggies’ first seven points of the game, on three layups and a free throw, to put them ahead for good.
“Our coach told us right before the game that there’s no more being nice,” said Alexander. “You’ve got to go out there and be tough.
“I’ve been working really hard to improve my game. I want to go bigger places and do bigger things. I love my guys and I want to do the best for them.”
FCAHS pulled away from a 4-4 tie with a 7-0 run to take an 11-4 lead, and the Panthers never got closer than five points the rest of the night.
“It’s always an option, especially if you can break your man down at the basket on the back side,” said Landry. “I’m just really proud of how (Calvin) has improved.
“We’ve got a bunch of seniors that come every single day and put the work in. They’re coachable, and that’s four years of work for Davion and Calvin.”
The Aggies led 16-8 after the first quarter, but Quitman stayed in the game through the second quarter. Nicholson converted two foul shots and a three-point play to turn a 21-12 Aggie lead into a 23-17 game.
FCAHS led at halftime 24-19, but kicked its game into fifth gear in the third quarter, running away with the game by outscoring the Panthers 21-9 in the period.
“We knew coming at halftime that we were going to have to play a lot more defense.” said Kennedy. “We knew they were going to pressure us more and try to trap us. But we just had to stay defensively sound and come together on that side.”
Junior K.J. Brewster got a putback layup and a layup from a feed from Cumbest, who operated Forrest County’s offense to perfection.
The Aggies took care of the ball, only committing seven turnovers for the game, and their passing game was in top form.
“That starts at practice,” said Kennedy. “Every day, we do lines in the cage and work on traps every day. And ball security is top priority; we work hard on taking care of the ball.
“That starts with the love on our team. We just build each other up, and we want everyone to succeed. When we do that, we win.”
FCAHS missed its first three shots from the field in the second half, then hit its next six to build a 16-point lead.
And the dagger came at the end of the period, when sophomore backup center Wesley Brewer swished a 3-point shot from the right baseline to just beat the buzzer and give the Aggies a 45-28 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
It was the only made 3-point shot of the game by either team, and it was a backbreaker for Quitman.
Another hallmark of Landry’s tenure at FCAHS is having plenty of scoring options. Monday, it was Alexander, with 11 points, and Kennedy with 12, along with 10 from Brewster and 8 from Brewer off the bench.
“It’s a luxury to have, because not every team has those options,” said Landry. “Anybody can be our leading scorer on any given night.”
Nicholson finished with 12 points to lead Quitman and senior Carlos McLaughlin added 11 points, but they got little help.
Forrest County the toughest task of all, getting past mighty Raymond, which is on track for its sixth state title in nine seasons. The Rangers (23-8) got past Mendenhall 35-28 to advance to PRCC.
“You can’t do anything but respect Raymond,” said Landry. “Until somebody knocks them off, they’re going to be the bully in 4A.
“It’s been a long time since they haven’t made it to the Big House, and to win that game, we’re going to have to play even better than we did tonight.”
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