MENDENHALL — For Quitman, all it took was a halftime adjustment.

The Panthers came out firing on all cylinders in the second half to race past Northeast Jones 66-46 in the semifinals of the Region 5-4A District Tournament at Mendenhall on Thursday night.

Quitman (22-7) will face Northeast Lauderdale in the region tournament championship game at 8:30 p.m. Friday.

With the win, Quitman also clinched at least one home Class 4A playoff game next week. 

“Tip my hat to Coach Stafford, they had an awesome game plan and we were missing shots that we normally make and credit goes to them,” said Quitman coach Chris Coleman. “At halftime, we had a come to Jesus meeting and made some adjustments. We take pride in winning the third quarter and we did that tonight.”

After trailing the Tigers 20-19 at halftime, Quitman would go on a 8-0 run midway through the third quarter to take a 29-26 lead and would end the period up 38-29.

In the fourth quarter, the Panthers opened on a 13-6 run to begin pulling away at 46-35. Quitman ended the game on a 16-1 run.

“I’m proud of the guys for keeping on and fighting when things weren’t going our way, and in the second half we started getting rebounds and playing like we play,” Coleman said. “We are still trying to get better late in the season and hopefully this will carry over to tomorrow night.”

C.J. Keys had a game-high 25 points to lead Quitman, including 14 points in the fourth quarter. Kobe Arrington added 13 points and John Lacy chipped in 12 points for the Panthers.

“Northeast is a tough team and they spanked us the last time we played. If they play like they did then we are in trouble,” Coleman said. “It’ll be a dog fight and no matter what we got at least home playoff game. I told the fans on senior night we got least one more home game and we got it.”

Javier Magee and Jay Jones has 13 points each for Northeast Jones (16-13).

NE LAUDERDALE 67, MENDENHALL BOYS 45 

Ricky Hinton had a game-high 21 points has the Trojans used a second-half surge to get past the Tigers.

Christian Luvene added 13 points and Akivia Burton had 10 points for NE Lauderdale (21-4). 

NE LAUDERDALE GIRLS 57, NEWTON COUNTY 55 (OT)

Nesha Moss had a game-high 14 points as the Lady Trojans outlasted the Lady Cougars in overtime.

Northeast Lauderdale (22-3) will play Mendenhall in the girls championship game tonight at 7.

Daysha Robinson added 13 points and Charity Hinton had 12 points for the Lady Trojans.

Gracie Merritt had 13 points to lead Newton County.