For three and a half quarters, the Yazoo County Panthers battled tooth-and-nail with the defending Class 3A state champion Booneville Blue Devils in their quarterfinal matchup at Yazoo County this past Saturday.
With 2:31 remaining in the fourth quarter, it was still anyone’s ball game as Booneville held a slim 41-38 lead.
Suddenly, it appeared as though an invisible lid was placed on the Panthers’ basket as three-pointers and layups missed their mark, and the Panthers went the remainder of the game scoreless while Booneville hit nine unanswered points down the stretch to seal a 50-38 win and advance.
“I was very proud of the guys’ effort late in the game. We should have just kept attacking. They had the big kid down low, and we kind of didn’t want to go at him,” said Panther head coach Bryce Randall. “We game-planned all week for them so we knew to a certain extent what they were going to do. I’m just proud we didn’t give up. It could have gotten away from us right there in the third quarter, but we fought back and that’s all I can ask for.”
Booneville jumped out to an 11-7 first quarter lead, but the Panthers got a boost from guard Michael Knox, who came off the bench in the second quarter to score six points to keep the game close.
The Blue Devils scored another 11 to Yazoo County’s eight in the quarter and led 22-15 at the half.
Another bench player, Dakwon Reasor, did his part in the third quarter with six points, but the Blue Devils began to pull ahead and led by ten, 35-25, going into the fourth quarter.
With 3:50 left in the fourth quarter, senior forward Jamarion Bryant brought the crowd to its feet with a thunderous, two-handed slam over a Blue Devil defender.
Fouled on the play, Bryant went to the line and converted the three-point play to pull the Panthers to within six, 39-32.
On the next two possessions, the Panthers picked up two steals which resulted in senior Kezyron Young being fouled and going the free throw line with a chance to further narrow the lead.
Young connected on all four foul shots to put the Panthers down 39-36 with 3:09 left to play.
From that point on, however, Booneville outscored Yazoo County 11-2 and escaped with the win.
“I started liking our chances when we were down three and I said we had a shot. They made some free throws, and we couldn’t ever come back,” said Randall.
Young was the leading scorer for the Panthers with eight points. Bryant, Knox, Reasor, and Amari Southern each scored six, followed by Anthony Hudson with four, and Ladon Watts with two.
The Panthers finished this season 16-10. Despite the loss, Randall was pleased with the effort his team gave in the game and the entire season.
Said Randall, “This senior class meant a lot (to me). I’ve had most of them for four years. Just seeing how much they’ve grown as players and people is rewarding. Some of them are about to go to college and play ball and some of them are going to get jobs. They’re all going to be great in whatever they do. Just the amount of work they have put in, I’m glad to see some of it payoff with a District Championship and going at the No. 1 team and not backing down. I just appreciate how much they started to believe in themselves as basketball players.”
Moving forward, Randall hopes the successes of this year will carry over into the 2026-2027 season.
“Next season starts Monday,” said Randall. “I already told them we’re going to the weight room on Monday. We’re just going to keep pushing. We can’t get better at everything at once, but we can get better at one or two things at a time. As long as we can improve in something, we’ll be better as a whole. Whether that’s our strength or our fundamentals, I think that we’ll be able to move the ball and run more than we were able to this year.”
