Meridian junior Devin Cherry glides in for a layup against top-ranked Wingfield during the Class 6A South State tournament Feb. 19 at Meridian.

    Meridian High’s ride to the Mississippi Coliseum began with one long bus ride from Biloxi last February. Really long.

    The Wildcats, who had spent most of the season ranked No. 1, lost to the Indians in the first round of the Class 5A playoffs. Meridian’s second straight loss led to an early exit, but also lit a spark in the young ‘Cats returning. That spark caught fire and the resulting blaze has Meridian (24-6) facing Greenville-Weston in a Class 6A semifinal at 8 p.m. today at “The Big House.”

    “It was a long ride back,” junior forward Rodney Hood said. “After the game, everybody was jumping around, and Biloxi went on to win the state championship. I know we were better than that team, so I knew if we just came in and worked hard, we’d be successful.”

    Added junior wing Devin Cherry: “That ride home was bad, long and bad. It was cold. I don’t want to feel like that again.”

    MHS coach Randy Bolden also noticed a change start to take place on that dreadful trip back from the coast.

    “This year’s team is just so focused and I think this year’s team learned a lot from last year’s team,” he said, adding that the Wildcats addressed last year’s painful ending again this year right before the postseason began. “Those guys that are playing this year, they were sitting on that bench and they were hurting as well. I think they took a lot from that game where we went to Biloxi last year.

    “They said on the way home, ‘Coach, we don’t like this feeling and we’re not going to feel like this again. We’re going to do everything in our power to make sure we’re on that winning side.'”

    As a result, the Wildcats, who returned just two players with key playing time from last season, grew together. That unity has helped Meridian through a tough South State playoff run that included wins against Biloxi and unbeaten No. 1 Wingfield.

    “It just made us grow up a little bit,” Cherry said. “The team chemistry, we just bonded. This year’s team, we’ve just got a unit where we’re together now.

    “When everybody trusts each other on the floor, it doesn’t matter how skilled we are or any of that, we’re just going to do it together.”

    Added Hood: “This year we came in more focused. We had one goal in mind and that was to win the state championship.

    “We’re believing in what we do. We’re not that big, but we have talented guards and we get after it on defense. We have one goal in mind and that is to win the state championship.”

    Still, as important as the camaraderie has been, Bolden believes Meridian’s performance is tied into the devotion on the defensive end of the court.

    “I think these guys are playing with a lot of confidence and are believing in what we’re doing, the system and believing in each other,” he added. “And I think that’s the difference.

    “I think the key for us is defense. They’ve really bought into getting stops. They believe. They enjoy playing defense now. They enjoy stopping people and I think that’s been the key for us. Everything else falls in line after that defense. When I first got here, they wanted to shoot the basketball and defense was kind of secondary, but now they’ve bought into defense is fun and laying it out there on the line on the defensive end. I really think that’s been the turning point for us.”

    That defensive drive will come in handy against the Hornets, who enter today’s game 15-14 after winning eight of their past 10. Greenville’s success has also come on the defensive end where it has allowed more than 66 points just once in that span. The Hornets allow just 55 points per game.

    If not, the ‘Cats could be facing another long bus ride home.