FLOWOOD — De’Shawn Dillon was a one-man wrecking crew on Friday night.

The promising sophomore poured in a game-high 28 points to help lead Northwest Rankin past Meridian 64-48 in a key Region 3-7A matchup.

“We knew coming into this game against Meridian that they’re well coached and defending 7A state champions,” said first-year Northwest Rankin coach Sirdonta Washington. “That’s one of the chips we had on our shoulder was we had the defending champs coming into our house and we wanted to protect our home court and we didn’t take them lightly.”

The Cougars (9-7, 2-0 Region 3-7A) never trailed the entire game.

The first quarter was back-and-forth that saw Northwest Rankin hold an 11-8 lead at the buzzer.

The second quarter is when the Cougars began to separate themselves. After Adrian Davis hit a three-pointer for Meridian to tie the game at 11 to begin the quarter, the Cougars answered with a 9-0 run to take a 20-11 and would allow the Wildcats to score just seven points in the quarter to hold a 24-15 halftime lead.

To begin the second half Northwest Rankin and Dillon kept rolling. The Cougars opened the third quarter on a 12-5 run to stretch their lead out to 36-20 lead and eventually held a 44-30 lead at the end of the quarter. Dillon scored 14 points in the frame.

In the fourth quarter Meridian went on a quick 7-3 run to cut the Cougar lead down to 47-37, but from that point for the rest of the game Northwest Rankin matched every time the Wildcats cut into their lead.

Dillon scored 24 of his 28 points in the second half. Antoine Harris and Caleb Hobson each added 11 points for Northwest Rankin.

“De’Shawn is capable of putting up big numbers every night. I tell him all the time he can do whatever he wants to do on the court if he decides to do it. I’m trying to keep with the mentality of where he be a dog every night and be the best version of himself,” Washington said. “We scheduled some tough teams at the beginning of the year to make us better, and I really think we’re starting to play the type of basketball we’re capable of playing. We’re 2-0 in region, so that’s big and a good sign of things to come.”

William Davidson had 16 points to lead Meridian, while Demontae Powe added 13 points for the Wildcats (6-7, 1-1).

“Your best player did what their supposed to do and (Dillon) played well. They shot the basketball well tonight and all credit goes to them,” said Meridian coach Ron Norman. “They kind of wore us out, made shots, and made good adjustments defensively.”