Meridian’s Azerious Ellis was a one-man wrecking crew.

Ellis had a double-double to help lead the Wildcats past Hattiesburg 74-55 to avenge their only loss of the season on Friday night in a top-10 showdown. Hattiesburg beat Meridian 78-72 back in early November.

“He was huge for us tonight. I cannot be more proud of that kid,” Meridian coach Ron Norman said of Ellis. “What more can you say about a kid that supposedly can’t shoot? He was the difference tonight and played one (heck) of a game.”

Ellis finished the night with a game-high 33 points while grabbing 11 rebounds and also tallying five steals. He scored 21 points in the second half alone.

“I just did what I had to do as a point guard and helped my teammates get the win. Coach tells me all the time if the shot is there, take it, and they went in tonight,” Ellis said. “Tonight was about the defense. Our offense is there, it was just our defense had to step up against a really good team tonight, and we did that and played great here at home.”

The Wildcats had a slim 10-8 lead at the end of the first quarter that featured a lot of fouls. Midway through the second quarter Meridian held a 18-14 lead, but Hattiesburg went 10-for-10 from the free-throw line, and the Tigers went into halftime up 24-23.

With just under six minutes left in the third quarter, Hattiesburg held a 31-27 lead, but Meridian went on a 13-0 run behind Ellis and Jaylen Davis to take a 40-31 lead. 

The Wildcats outscored the Tigers 27-11 in the third quarter and ended quarter up 50-35. In the fourth quarter, Hattiesburg cut the lead down to nine points, 60-51, behind Cameron Brown’s 10 straight points, but the Wildcats went on a 14-4 run to finish the game.

“The kids took the loss down there personally, and this game was a battle of wills, and both teams played tough, but we found a way to win,” Norman said. “Our kids competed, and we played the game at our pace, and we slowed them down. Transition defense was huge for us because last time we gave up transition dunks and 3-pointers. They didn’t make any of those things tonight, and that was the biggest thing and that’s what we worked on all week.” 

Ricky Hinton added 12 points for Meridian, while Makeem Roberts chipped in with nine points for the Wildcats (12-1).

Meridian will now head down to Gulfport to play in the Adidas Holiday Classic. The Wildcats will face Long Beach in the first round of the Tournament at 4:30 p.m. Thursday.

“We have to go down there and play our best,” Norman said. “I’m trying to use that as a motivation to tell them we want to come back to the coast in that third-round game, so that means we’re playing to go to Jackson.”

Brown, a Dandy Dozen and Pearl River Community College signee, had 20 points to lead Hattiesburg, while Nick Walker added 16 points for the Tigers (10-3).

“Great atmosphere and a playoff-type game, and we learned a lot about ourselves tonight, and we will learn from it,” Hattiesburg coach Ernie Watson said. “Coming here and knowing it was going to be tough was to build toughness and grow from it, so down the road we will be prepared for it because not all playoff games are at home.”

MERIDIAN GIRLS 46, HATTIESBURG 37

Jackson State commit Arianna Patton had a game-high 14 points as the Lady Wildcats edged the Lady Tigers.

Jamiya King added 10 points for Meridian (13-1).

Dakiyah Lewis had 10 points to lead Hattiesburg (7-6).