Yazoo County High School’s boys basketball season came to an end on Tuesday when they fell 44-28 to East Side in the first round of the regional tournament.
Yazoo County head basketball coach Phil Turner believed that his team’s inexperience haunted them all year.
“Only two players from our whole group had played before,” Turner said. “A lot of our guys just had not played before. It was a struggle at times. We have a good group of guys coming up that have been working hard. We hope next year is the opposite of this year.”
The Panthers started off hot in the playoff game, outscoring East Side 12-9 to take an early game.
In the second quarter, a scoring drought plagued the Panthers severely.
Missed shots and poor looks were a big problem for Yazoo County, and they were only able to score four points, while giving up eight points, giving East Side a 17-16 lead at the half.
Disaster struck for Yazoo County in the third quarter when they allowed East Side to put up 15 points. The Panthers were only able to score five to make the score 32-21 with only eight minutes to play.
Things did not improve in the fourth quarter for the Panthers.
The Panthers needed a strong defensive stand and an offensive explosion to keep their season alive, but they gave up 12 points and scored only seven to bring the final score 44-28, ending the season for Yazoo County.
According to Turner, the second half offensive and defensive issues are not new to his team. They’ve been dealing with them all season long.
“The problems we had in the second half were some of the same problems we’ve had all year,” Turner said. “We were focused and ready to play. We kind of reverted back to our old ways in the second half. I still haven’t figured out why we do that. It’s been the story all season.”
The Panthers ended the season with a 1-22 record.
