Northeast Lauderdale High School’s Harvest Brunson fights his way toward the basket against Forrest County Agricultural High School Tuesday night.

The Northeast Lauderdale High School boys basketball team wanted to make a statement Tuesday night in their opening-round playoff game.

That statement was made almost immediately, as the Trojans rode a 20-point first quarter to a dominant 68-46 victory against Forrest County Agricultural High School in the first round of the MHSAA Class 4A playoffs. But for an offensive lull in the second quarter, the Trojans were otherwise dominant from start to finish, and head coach Lewis Lightsey said he was happy to see such a memorable game for his seniors.

“I thought we started off really well and really moved the ball in the first part of the game,” Lightsey said. “We had a lot of defensive intensity; then we got a little lax in the second quarter and kind of allowed them back in the game, then kind of came back out in the third quarter and took back over again.

“Anytime you can get a good win in the playoffs, you’ll take it. I thought the crowd was really good tonight, and that helped us a lot. We probably sent the seniors out on a good note, because I don’t guess we’ll have a home game — we’ll know in a little while who we play next — (and) we lost by a couple on senior night, so it was good to send those seniors out in good style.”

Ulysses Lebron and Harvest Brunson both finished in double figures, and the tandem managed to account for 12 of their team’s 20 points in the opening frame. Brunson tallied eight points, including a trey and another 3-point attempt in which he got fouled and made all three free throws, while Lebron added four points to the effort.

The strong first quarter gave Northeast Lauderdale fans plenty for which to cheer, and Lebron said the rowdy bleachers were a key part of the team’s performance.

“That fed (into it) a lot,” Lebron said. “It felt like we had an extra person on the court. I want to thank the fans who came out and supported us, and I’m glad our teammates pitched in all at one time and came together and won this thing as a team.” 

After leading 20-4 going into the second, things slowed down for the Trojans a bit despite a 3-pointer by Lebron at the 6:17 mark. Forrest County AHS finished the second quarter with 13 points, which Northeast Lauderdale matched to take a 33-17 advantage into halftime.

In the third quarter, both teams managed just five points apiece until the 4:26 mark, when Brunson found the net from downtown. That started a 14-2 run in which Akiva Burton also had a trey, as the Trojans further pulled away from the Aggies to take a 52-24 lead going into the final period.

The fourth quarter saw mostly the backups for Northeast Lauderdale, but thanks in part to treys by Deundrick Sillman and Kamerion Hulin, the Trojans still managed 16 points in the frame to close the door for good.

Lebron finished the game with 14 points, while Brunson added 12 points. Burton tallied nine points, and J.D. McDonald finished with eight. A total of 10 Trojan players made the scoring column, which pleased Lightsey.

“It makes it fun,” Lightsey said. “It makes it good, because down the stretch it’s been really tough fighting for a seed in the division and all of those kind of things, and the divisional tournament was two tough, tight games, so all those guys didn’t get in. For everybody to get in tonight and get to play, it was fun, and to see some guys make some shots who hadn’t gotten to score in a month or so was really fun.”

Lebron was quick to credit his teammates for his big night.

“They were just looking for (me and Brunson),” Lebron said. “I wouldn’t have double digits — me nor Harvest — and we want to thank them a lot.”

Northeast Lauderdale (14-14) will play Bay High School Saturday in the second round.