When he returned to Yazoo City three seasons ago, YHS head coach Anthony Carlyle had another return in mind when taking the helm of the Indians basketball team. His goal: to guide the Indians back to a place they routinely called a second home, the Mississippi Coliseum, aka, The Big House.
Making their deepest playoff run in over a decade, the Indians advanced to the Elite 8 game after posting a pair of home playoff wins against Caledonia, 61-38, in the opener and Kosciusko, 43-32, in the Sweet 16. The Indians were one win away from reaching their ultimate goal before suffering a nail-biting, 31-28 loss to the Pontotoc Warriors, ending their season at 12-6.
“This season was great even though we had a lot of challenges,” said Carlyle. “We try and teach our guys that that’s a part of life and you have to respond and still find a way to be successful and they did. I am proud of them because they left everything on the court this season and as a coach that is all we ask for.”
The Indians had a daunting task ahead of them against the Warriors, a team that routinely scored upwards of 65 points per game. But anyone familiar with Carlyle, knew that wouldn’t be the case against Yazoo City.
The Indians grinded the game to a halt as evidenced by the low scoring 6-5 Pontotoc first quarter. The Warriors outscored the Indians 9-6 in the second frame and led 15-11 at the half. Pontotoc opened the third quarter on a 6-0 run and went on to outscore Yazoo City 10-4 in the quarter to take a 10-point lead, 25-15, into the final quarter.
After a pair of three pointers by Will Grayson and Jacquarrious Collum and a layup by senior Daon Henry to open the fourth quarter, the Indians had pulled to within four, 27-23, with 4:35 left to play. The Indians continued to chip away at the lead and after a three-point play by Brendan Brown at the 1:30 mark, Yazoo City trailed 29-28.
A pair of costly turnovers down the stretch led to two Warrior game-sealing free throws. The Indians had one last chance to send the game to overtime but were unable to get a shot off after yet another turnover as time expired.
“I felt like we had a great game plan. We know how hard it can be on the road and we had some great opportunities to win that game. We just weren’t able to capitalize,” said Carlyle. “You can’t turn the ball over as many times as we did against a great team and expect to win on the road.”
Brown was the leading scorer for the Indians with eight points followed by Jacquaris Rogers with six, Grayson and Collum each with five and Henry with four.
With only one senior graduating (Henry), an All-Star selection returning (Collum), combined with several young, talented prospects, the Indians should be one of the favorites to compete for a Class 4A state championship next season.
