Kemper County loses to Forest in the MHSAA Class 3A State Championship in Jackson.

    Kemper County will have to wait one more year for its state championship return as Forest pulled off the upset in a gut-wrenching loss for the Wildcats in the MHSAA Class 3A championship game Friday afternoon at the Mississippi Coliseum. The Bearcats, who avenged a South State title game defeat to Kemper, won 58-57. Kemper ended its season 28-5, while Forest will enter next week’s Grand Slam 23-7.

    Friday’s outcome came down to a see-saw battle in the final quarter, during which there were 11, count them, 11 lead changes. LaColtan Bester did his best to keep Kemper’s title dreams alive, answering Forest basket for basket.

    However, the day belonged to Datodrick Pinkston and the Bearcats as Pinkston weaved through defenders to score and put Forest back on top by one point at 58-57 with 14 seconds remaining. A Kemper turnover on the ensuing possession sealed the deal for Forest and left all five Kemper starters on their backsides full of emotion and tears.

    “I thought we had the stop,” said Kemper coach Kelvin Young. “But we let that guy go right by us and, unfortunately, that is the way the ball bounces sometimes.”

    The two teams were as evenly matched as they were in the 60-56 Kemper win at South State, as neither team led by more than four points throughout the entire contest.

    After trailing by two points after the first quarter, Kemper came out firing in the second quarter as Tomaun Rencher and Nicholas Giles connected on 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to get things rolling for the Wildcats. Kemper County entered halftime leading 24-20.

    Unfortunately, Josh Pinkston and the Bearcats never backed downed as they stormed backed in the third quarter to regain the lead at 35-34 heading into the final period.

    Young had stressed how big of a factor rebounding was if his club were to take home the gold ball before the game. And Kemper was unable to win the battle of the boards against Forest for the second straight time.

    “I told you that once before,” said Young. “There are things we had to do. Devonta (Pollard) made them miss shots but we gotta rebound. We didn’t rebound well at all and, unfortunately, it cost us at the end.”

    Kemper was led by Bester’s team-high 18 points, while Steffon Fuller scored 11. Rencher and Giles each had 10 points in the contest.

    Josh Pinkston, who was named the game’s MVP, had a game-high 19 points and LaDerrick Scott dropped in 11.

    “God’s been good to us and let us have a great season,” noted Young. “We were hoping to bring this championship home for the Kemper-Lauderdale area. Hopefully coach (Randy) Bolden (Meridian High) can bring it home now.

    “I hope we can make it back here next year. We were so close.”