The state’s top two ranked teams will square off for the Division 5-5A Tournament championship Friday night at Oak Grove.

Meridian High School’s boys outscored host Oak Grove in all four quarters to post a 72-42 win over the Warriors in area high school basketball action from late Tuesday night.

The win lifted the Wildcats to 25-3 on the season and moved them into Friday’s 7:30 p.m., tournament championship game against Brandon. The Bulldogs, also 25-3, drilled Hattiesburg 57-25 Tuesday.

Second-seeded Meridian is ranked No. 1 in the Jackson Clarion-Ledger’s Super 10 poll, while top-seeded Brandon is ranked No. 2. The squads split their regular-season meetings, with each team winning on its home floor.

Tuesday, Meridian led 34-21 at halftime and finished the game on a 23-8 run. The Wildcats’ balanced scoring attack included 16 points each from Kenny Brown and Donovan Walker and 15 points each from Deshun Carter and Rodney Hood. Zacc Cacapit chipped in eight points.

Antonnio Benton led Oak Grove with a game-high 21 points.

— Rocky Higginbotham



Hattiesburg 61

Meridian girls 56



The Lady Wildcats’ season came to an end with a disappointing loss to the Lady Tigers.

Meridian trailed 28-27 at halftime, but outscored Hattiesburg 14-9 in the third quarter to take a 41-37 lead. Hattiesburg then put up 24 points in the final 8 minutes to pull out the win.

Gelese Lampton led the Lady Tigers with 16 points, while Talicia Barnes scored 14 and Lenise Stallings 11.

Meridian got a game-high 19 points from Aquashia Anderson, 11 from Tyneshia Parker and 10 from Ladena Mosley. Breauna Brown chipped in seven points and Labreia Reese contributed six.

— Rocky Higginbotham



Division 4-4A tourney



West Lauderdale and Neshoba Central each had one team advance and one team get eliminated in the Division 4-4A Tournament being held at New Hope.

West’s boys routed Kosciusko 70-43 to advance to tonight’s semifinals, while Kosciusko ended the season for the Lady Knights with a 53-43 defeat.

The Knights will now face defending state champ and host New Hope — which defeated Neshoba’s boys 93-58 late Tuesday — in tonight’s 8:30 p.m. semifinal game.

Neshoba Central’s girls, meanwhile, got 11 points from Annie Brewer as the Lady Rockets eliminated host New Hope 37-30. Neshoba trailed 28-23 late in the contest, but finished the game on a 14-2 run

The Lady Rockets will face Noxubee County tonight at 7 p.m. Kosciusko and West Point meet in the other girls’ semifinal at 4 p.m.

Noxubee’s boys, meanwhile, will square off against West Point at 5:30 p.m., today. The Green Wave knocked off Caledonia 80-55 to advance.

— Rocky Higginbotham