Meridian High School’s David McCoy passes the ball off as he nears the lane against Tupelo High School Saturday during the MHSAA Class 6A quarterfinals at Jackson State University.

JACKSON — Meridian High School found itself in unfamiliar territory Saturday afternoon as it trailed Tupelo High School by double digits early in its Class 6A quarterfinal.

Tupelo’s Kylan Hamilton knocked down a 3-pointer with 3:13 left in the first quarter to give the Golden Wave a 12-point lead and momentum against the No. 1 seed from Region 5-6A.

But the Wildcats (28-2) didn’t panic.

They instead pulled together a 12-0 run to tie the score en route to a 57-51 victory over Tupelo (26-5) Saturday at Jackson State University’s Williams Activity Center to inch one game closer to a berth in the 6A state final.

Meridian plays Callaway High School at 8:30 p.m. March 8 in the 6A semifinals.

“They didn’t want to lose — they didn’t want it to end,” Wildcats coach Ron Norman said of his team’s comeback effort. “We got down 15-3, and we picked it up on the defensive end and went back to our bread-and-butter defense, and our kids just really made plays.”

Ledarrius Brewer led Meridian in scoring with 22 points, David McCoy added 13 points and Jay Malone pitched in 10 points.

Meridian’s height advantage over Tupelo was clear during the course of the game when it became evident that Golden Wave players weren’t going to score many points inside against the Wildcats’ big men. But for a while, Norman said Tupelo’s guard play caught his players’ attention early.

“We came out in man (defense) and I love man, but they just wore us out early in those first six or seven minutes of the game,” Norman said. “We went to our zone press and used our length and athleticism and went on a run.”

Tied at 15 to begin the second quarter, Brewer dug in and went to work. Brewer popped back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Wildcats a 21-15 lead. Tupelo’s Jett Johnson added a layup, but Meridian’s Jamond Gordon responded with his own layup to push the Wildcats’ lead back to six points. David McCoy extended the lead to double digits at 28-17 with 3:44 left before halftime. Meridian’s bench contributed five second-quarter points to help the Wildcats outscore Tupelo 19 to 5 in the frame and lead 34-20 at intermission.

“Our defense sparked our offense, and the rest was history,” Norman said.

Meridian’s offense hit a lull in the third quarter, as Brewer scored all six of the team’s points, but the Wildcats’ defense continued to stifle Tupelo’s shooters, allowing just six points through the quarter as the Wildcats held a 40-26 lead at quarter’s end.

Meridian built a 49-31 lead with 3:28 left in the game before Tupelo roared back. Tupelo’s Jaylon Copeland made a jumper with 1:08 remaining to carve Meridian’s lead to 49-40. Malone, however, made six free throws in the game’s final 30 seconds to keep the Wildcats ahead for good.

Norman and Meridian now shift their focus to Callaway. The Wildcats went 2-0 against the Chargers during the regular season, but Norman said none of that matters now.

“They’re a great basketball team,” Norman said of the Chargers. “We’ve played them twice this year, but it’s about the next game right now, because we can throw all the records out the door. It’s the first team to 3-0, and we’re trying to go 2-0 next week.”