RAYMOND – Crash!

To say the least, the Presbyterian Christian School Bobcats weremotivated. Avenging two previous losses to the Brookhaven AcademyCougars, the Bobcats upset the previously unbeaten Cougars 47-41Saturday night in the championship finals of the South State AATournament, powered by Ben Morgan’s 24 points.

It was the first loss in 29 games for the Cougars. It was thesecond big tournament comeback for PCS (21-10). The Bobcats hadrallied to beat tournament host Central Hinds in Friday’ssemifinals.

The Cougars and Bobcats both advance to the AA state tournamentwhich starts Tuesday in BA’s John R. Gray Gymnasium. The Cougarswill play the winner of the Columbus Heritage-Marshall Northconsolation game in the opening round of the state tournament.

The Cougars led most of the game and carried a 37-30 lead intothe fourth quarter. The Bobcats launched a spirited rally.

“We got stuck on 39 points,” said Brookhaven Academy head coachDale Watts. “We made a lot of mistakes offensively and a lot ofmistakes defensively. We missed a lot of easy shots andPresbyterian beat us pretty good on the boards.”

It was the third meeting of the season. The Cougars had won bytwo points earlier in the season at Brookhaven and prevailed by 9points, 46-37, at Hattiesburg on Jan. 17.

According to Watts, the PCS Bobcats are a solid team with oneexceptional player. “They have a real good player in Morgan,” saidWatts. “He just hurt us and played well. They came out hungry andwanted to win the game.”

Offensively, the Cougars were led by senior guard Craig Smith’s12 points. He was the only player in double digits.

The Cougars (28-1) were led on the backboards by Jimmy Latham’s7 rebounds. Jonathan Winborne and Alan Oster each had 6 rebounds.Latham and Cole Hodges each made 2 assists.

Brookhaven suffered 18 turnovers.

Alex Davis, Oster and Smith were named to the all-tournamentteam.

Watts believes his Cougars can bounce back in the statetournament. “Our team has character. They will come backstrong.”

Cougars Win Semifinals

In Friday night’s semifinals, Brookhaven Academy knocked offPrairie View’s Spartans 69-61.

Powering the Cougars with 23 points,12 rebounds and six assistswas senior center Alan Oster. Alex Davis fired in 14 points andgrabbed seven rebounds. Netting 13 points and making four assistswas Craig Smith. Davis also had five assists followed by ColeHodges with four.

High scorer for PV was Joel Edwards with 20 points. Boo Wallerfollowed with 18 points.