Although the outcome was closer than many expected, Ernie Watson was happy just to win.
Watson’s Hattiesburg boys took the best shots visiting Hancock could throw at them, and served up plenty of their own in a 67-55 victory over the Hawks in the opening round of the Class 6A basketball playoffs Saturday night at Watkins Gymnasium.
The Tigers (22-8) advanced to a showdown against West Harrison at 5:30 p.m. next Saturday in the 6A South quarterfinals at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. Hancock completed its season 12-17.
Hattiesburg got it done by beating the Hawks at their own game, which is living and dying with the 3-point shot.
Hancock converted 10 of 23 shots from downtown, and the Hawks were especially good in the middle two quarters, when they were 13 of 22 from the field, including 7 for 11 from beyond the arc.
“That kept them in the game, kept us from blowing them out,” said Watson. “From all the film we saw, we knew they could shoot the trey, and we knew the three kids who could shoot it real well. It was just a matter of them making shots. They runs they made, we answered.”
Indeed, the Tigers were far more efficient, hitting 28 of 50 shots for the game, including 9 of 18 from 3-point range. HHS was particularly deadly in the second half, shooting 14 of 22 (63.6 percent) and 4 of 6 from distance.
The biggest Hawk killer for Hattiesburg was junior Ethan Long, who hit four treys on his way to 32 points to lead the Tigers. Hancock never could figure out how to stop the 6-foot-7 Long, who swished outside shots, then was able to penetrate for high percentage shots.
“I feel like teams do respect my outside shot, but then sometimes they don’t,” said Long. “I know I’m going to have to be able to shoot the ball. In today’s game, you’ve got 6-6, 6-7 point guards, so I know to be on the next level, I have to be able to shoot the ball.”
Long’s first 3-point shot of the night got HHS going after the Hawks took an early 7-4 lead. His shot from the top of the key tied it up, and got a feed off a steal for a fast-break layup to give the Tigers a lead they would never relinquish.
“We’re riding (Long) like a government mule,” said Watson. “If he’s there available, and he play, and everything goes through him. I hope there’s nothing he can’t do, and I don’t want to find out. I want him to be as successful as he can be in our program. I’m glad he’s on our team”
But it was the second unit that started to put some distance between the Tigers and the Hawks. Watson has long relied on a five-in, five-out approach to substituting, especially in the first half.
After Hancock tied it 9-9, the second unit came on the floor, and reserve guards Tristan Wesco and Benjamin Harris Jr. hit back-to-back treys, sandwiched around a turnover, to lead 15-9 after the first quarter.
“That’s kind of our MO,” Watson said. “We want to give kids a chance to play, so they can show that they can play in the big moment. Plus, it also gives our starters a break. And they couldn’t sub like that and go deep in their bench.
“We knew we had to get into their guards’ legs, and hopefully they’d start missing a couple of those 3s they were shooting.”
Hancock seniors Malichi Lightell and Jude Ulrich kept the Hawks in the game in the second quarter with precision shooting. Each player had 8 points in the period, each hitting a pair of 3s. For the quarter, Hancock was 7 of 10 from the field, including 4 of 5 from downtown.
But seemingly every time the game got tight, senior James Griffin stepped up to give the Tigers a second scoring option to Long.
The 6-2 guard scored 9 of his 23 points in the second quarter, and the Tigers matched the Hawks’ shooting prowess, converting 8 of 13 from the field (61.5 percent).
“We’ve been talking about me being a leader,” said Griffin. “So I stepped up and made some shots tonight to help us win this game.”
Long’s three-point play capped a 7-0 run to put the Tigers up 25-17, then after the Hawks made their last best run, tying the game 27-27 on a 3-ball by Lightell, Long and Griffin led a decisive 10-0 run that put HHS ahead 37-27.
While Hancock’s 2-1-2 zone gave the Tigers trouble through much of the first half, making it difficult to get dribble penetration into the lane.
“We knew that in order to break a zone, we had to pass the ball,” said Long. “We just passed, cut to the basket, whatever opened up, and we made the shots.”
But in the second half, Hattiesburg figured out ways to get the ball inside for layups and dunks, and the Tigers’ in-your-face man defense finally wore down the Hawks.
“When you talk about Hattiesburg, you talk about man-to-man full-court defense,” said Long. “We pride ourselves on our defense, and we take our defense and translate it into offense.”
Hancock opened the second half with a quick 5-0 spurt, but once again Long stepped up with a 3-pointer, and Griffin continued his hot play, adding 8 points to his scoresheet in the third quarter.
“He’s starting to come around,” said Watson. “He understands his role. He has to be the B player behind the A player (Long). Once we get Tristan Keys’ legs under him, we’re going to be fine.”
Griffin took a steal coast-to-coast for a fast-break layup to punctuate a 10-0 run that gave the Tigers their biggest lead of the night, 51-35.
However, Hancock found the range again, and closed the margin to 51-43 heading into the final period.
The Hawks closed the deficit to six points, 61-55, on a fast break by Lightell, but they missed their last six shots of the game, and Hattiesburg converted 6 of 8 from the field in the final period to pull away at the end.
“We’ve got three games left to win another state championship,” said Griffin, who was a member of Hattiesburg’s Class 5A state title team in 2023.
“Me and three other guys on the team were on the last state championship team, and we want to give our teammates that experience and bring home another trophy.”
Ulrich led Hancock with 16 points, but only 3 in the second half, and Lightell and senior Donte Taylor each had 15 points for the Hawks.
West Harrison punched its ticket to the quarterfinals with a 51-40 victory over Jim Hill Saturday. Hattiesburg has a score to settle with the Hurricanes after they upset the Tigers in the opening round a year ago.
But Watson isn’t thinking about that, at least not publicly.
“It doesn’t matter who we play,” said Watson. “We’re going to play a very good team, regardless of who it is. We’re just going to have to go down there and play our game.”
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