NEWTON — Not long after Newton clinched its spot in the MHSAA Class 2A  quarterfinals, Tigers coach Darrin Gray shifted his focus to two-time defending state champion Coahoma County and its not-so-secret strategy of deploying a diamond press in the third quarter.

With that in mind, Gray and the Tigers set out to build enough of a first-half lead Friday to withstand Coahoma County’s third-quarter defensive shift, but the Tigers’ two-point lead at the break wasn’t enough.

Coahoma County outscored Newton 14 to 7 in the third quarter Friday en route to a 45-36 victory in the third round of the MHSAA Class 2A playoffs. The win improved Coahoma County’s record to 29-2 and advanced the Red Panthers to next week’s Class 2A semifinals, and it concluded Newton’s season at 24-8.

“We struggled with that press in the third quarter when they picked up the full-court press, and that was the turning point of the game,” Gray said afterward. 

During the first two quarters, Newton and Coahoma County traded leads in a back-and-forth affair that showcased both teams’ defensive prowess. The Red Panthers tallied the first two points of the game at the 7:04 mark, but a 3-pointer by Newton’s Jayden Parker flipped the lead to Newton’s favor, 5-2, with 5:13 left to play in the frame. Parker executed a highlight-worthy, finger-roll layup as time expired in the opening quarter to push the Tigers ahead 9-4.

Newton built up its largest lead of the second quarter, 16-12, after a Jacquain Roberts basket in the paint at the 3:38 mark, but Coahoma County’s Jai’sheldon Yates went 1 of 2 from the charity stripe with 1:49 left to play to tie the score at 16.

Roberts hauled in a rebound after a missed Newton free-throw attempt and made the put-back basket with 15 seconds remaining before halftime to send the Tigers into the break with an 18-16 lead.

Coahoma County turned to its diamond press in the third quarter, which flustered Newton to the tune of five turnovers. Markevious Phillips connected on a basket with 5:21 left in the third to give the Red Panthers a 20-18 lead, their first since the 7:04 mark in the opening quarter, and they wouldn’t surrender the advantage for the rest of the contest. Newton’s Jamarian Pace accounted for all seven of the Tigers’ third-quarter points. Newton went scoreless during the last 2:03 of the third quarter, and Coahoma County took a 30-25 lead into the fourth.

“Once they got up ahead, the way their system is, it’s hard to take the lead again,” Gray said. “They always do that in the third quarter. We knew it was coming… We did a good job of scouting, it’s just we’ve never seen that kind of speed before — it got after us, and it affected us.”

Newton’s Deshaun Watts broke a nearly 4-minute-long Tiger scoreless streak with two free throws at the 5:31 mark in the final period to trim the Red Panthers’ lead to 36-27, and Pace hit two free throws to bring Newton within five points of tying the score at 36 with 2:45 left to play. But Coahoma County rattled off nine points over the last 2:11 to earn the win.

“We had a strong run,” Gray said. “My kids played hard on defense, and so, sometimes on offense, we go into a scoring drought, and that third quarter, that’s what happened. I knew we were going to hit one tonight, but if somebody was to tell me that we were only going to give up 45 to those kids, I’d say I’d take that any day of the week. We had an opportunity, too, it just didn’t work out tonight.”

Parker led the Tigers and all scorers with 15 points, and Pace finished with 11.

Yates tallied 14 points for the Red Panthers.