By By Austin Bishop / EMG regional sports director
June 28, 2004
Meridian High School head boys basketball coach Ernie Watson is hoping his Wildcats can transfer some of their State Games of Mississippi success to the regular season.
MHS used solid efforts on both ends of the floor to beat Durant 69-44 at Meridian Community College's Ivy Sports Center on Sunday, earning the school's third consecutive gold medal and the fifth in seven years.
The game was tied at 4-4 just over a minute into the half, but the Wildcats gradually stretched the lead out to 17-8 and then to 30-15.
Durant, a Class 1A school, came into the game with the reputation of being an outstanding shooting squad.
MHS led 37-23 at the half and continued to lengthen the lead, going up by as many as 27 points at one time against the smaller Tigers from DHS.
Durant had earned its spot in the finals with a thrilling two-point win over Choctaw Central in the semifinals on Saturday night.
The win by MHS allowed the Wildcats to run the table.
Meridian dominated the game on the inside early, despite having starting big men Cornelius Miles and Cyrus McGowan on the bench.
Miles and McGowan missed Meridian's last two games on Saturday, both wins over Wayne County, because they were in Jackson playing AAU basketball.
Once McGowan and Miles got into the game, the Tigers were too worn down to be able to do much with them as they pretty much had their way inside.
Colby Davis and McGowan led Meridian with 15 points each, while A.J. Brown, Anouk Jackson and Chris Leggett scored eight each. Chris Harris added seven.
Terrance Sanders led Durant with 11 points, while Jerome Walker scored 10 and Jonathan Boyd eight.