By By Austin Bishop/EMG Regional Sports Editor
Feb. 20, 2002
MCCOMB The visiting Trojans of Northeast Lauderdale High School made a strong bid at advancing to the MHSAA South State Class 4A Semifinals, but fell just short to McComb 76-72 on Tuesday night. Jackie Butler, McComb's 6-foot-10 post, scored 19 of his 35 points in the second half to lead the Tigers to the win.
Northeast, which fell to 24-8 on the year with the loss, was tied with the Tigers midway through the fourth quarter, but Butler came up with a big steal and converted it into a basket to put the winners ahead for good.
Northeast found itself trailing by seven points with under two minutes to go, before the Trojans knocked down a couple of threes to close the gap.
We really played pretty well and had some chances to win," said NEL head coach Lewis Lightsey. "When they got us out of the zone the big kid was just too much for us inside."
Northeast started the game in a zone, but McComb hit four three-pointers in the early going to pull the Trojans out of it. NEL led 20-18 after one quarter of play and were tied 37-37 at the half.
It looked like the Trojans were going to have a chance to stretch their lead when they scored on 10 straight possessions late in the third quarter and early in the fourth.
But McComb answered each time. "It was like we couldn't stop each other from scoring," Lightsey said. "We kept scoring, but they just matched us every time."
Martin, who knocked down five three-pointers, led Northeast Lauderdale with 24 points, while DeKenno Winston scored 22 and Marcus Betts hit for 15.
Jermaine Landreius scored 15 points to lead McComb, while D.J. Carr added 14, including a trio of three-pointers in the first half.