Northeast Lauderdale High School’s Akiva Burton tries to fight off a Leake Central High School defender as he crosses mid-court during the MHSAA Class 4A quarter finals at Jackson State University Wednesday night.

JACKSON — Northeast Lauderdale ended the season the way it began it: with a loss to Leake Central High School. But unlike the 10-point loss the Trojans suffered in their first meeting, Northeast Lauderdale wouldn’t go down this time until overtime.

Leake Central defeated Northeast Lauderdale 56-51 Wednesday evening at Jackson State University in the Class 4A quarterfinals, marking the second straight year the Trojans have been ousted in the quarterfinal round.

Ulysses Lebron led Northeast Lauderdale (15-15) in scoring with 15 points. Rafael Walker ended with 13 and Harvest Brunson contributed 13.

“There’s a sense of great accomplishment, but there’s the hurt because there it is in an overtime game and you have a chance, and there’s a missed free throw here and a missed free throw there,” Northeast Lauderdale head coach Lewis Lightsey said. “If we made those plays, we might not have lost in overtime. We might have won that game. But I give Leake Central a lot of credit. I see why they’ve won a lot of games in a row. They’re a very hard-nosed team and they just find a way to win.”

Northeast Lauderdale overcame a five-point deficit in the fourth quarter to enter overtime with the score tied at 48. Leake Central outscored the Trojans 8-3 in the overtime period. Walker scored Northeast Lauderdale’s lone basket in the period, and Akiva Burton made one free throw to round out the team’s scoring.

After starting the season on a six-game slide, the Trojans nabbed their first win in the East Central Community College tournament.

As the season progressed, so did Northeast Lauderdale, riding the wave into the postseason where it bested Forrest County Agricultural and Bay high schools to punch its ticket to Jackson for the Class 4A quarterfinals.

“We turned it around and played a lot better from January on – we only lost one game in January,” Lightsey said. “We were able to win the Sam Dale Tournament at home and make a good run to finish second in the district to a really good Mendenhall team… Going into Bay High and winning was a great win for us. It really was.”

Decquan Bounds paced Leake Central with 13 points. Casey McQueen ended with 12 and Nigel Goss chipped in 11.

Lebron netted a 3-pointer with 6:25 remaining in the first quarter to tie the score at 3, and Walker gave Northeast Lauderdale a 5-3 lead with 5:40 left in the quarter. The Trojans built an 11-5 lead, but Leake Central’s Cameron Wingo connected from behind the arc with three seconds remaining to give the Gators a 14-13 lead.

Northeast Lauderdale struggled to find a basket in the second quarter, and Leake Central pounced on the Trojans’ lull. The Gators strung together a 9-0 run to begin the quarter before the Trojans scored a point. Jedarius McDonald ended the cold streak in a big way after making a basket while drawing a foul five minutes into the quarter. McDonald made the and-one free throw to trim Leake Central’s lead to 23-16. McDonald’s basket rejuvenated the Trojans as they rattled off 11 additional points in the quarter to trail the Gators 29-27 at the half.

Harvest Brunson muscled in a basket 54 seconds into the third quarter to knot the score at 29 and he added another basket 15 seconds later to give Northeast Lauderdale a 31-29 lead, its first since the first quarter. Another Trojans’ cold shooting streak saw Leake Central retake the lead, which it would turn into a 44-39 advantage at the end of three.

Northeast Lauderdale’s defense contained Leake Central in the fourth quarter, as the Gators scored just four points with two coming on free throws and the other via a field goal. Lebron hit a 3-pointer with 6:42 remaining in regulation to make it a one-possession game with the score 44-42 in favor of Leake Central. McDonald, Walker and Brunson combined for six fourth-quarter points to send the game into overtime after a tie at 48 through regulation.

“It kept us in the game,” Lightsey said of the Trojans’ defense in the fourth quarter. “It saved us and kept us in the game because I think we were down 5 or 6 (points) going into the fourth. What we said in the huddle is that we can’t let them score, and we didn’t give them very many baskets there.”