Byers Lions finish second in state

The H.W. Byers Lions cut a double-digit, second-half deficit to three with 7:25 left Thursday in the Class 1A State Tournament finals.

Then the bug that had been biting them much of the game bit again.

Some costly turnovers in a brief stretch of the fourth saddled Byers with a 45-37 loss to the Biggersville Lions, which won their second consecutive state championship.

Byers had 15 turnovers in the game, eight of those in the second half.

“We turned the ball over late — when we had a chance to come back and win it,” coach James Sales said.

In a three-minute stretch in the fourth, Byers went from three down (26-23) to 11 down (34-23). A big part of that was a missed free throw and three turnovers by the Byers Lions and an offensive rebound by Biggersville.

“That was pretty much the ball game,” Sales said. “We had them on the ropes, but committed silly turnovers — mental things, small things.”

Yet his Byers squad still didn’t fade away. The Lions from Marshall County sliced the deficit to four a couple of times in the last two and a half minutes.

But Biggersville drilled some clutch free throws and won by eight. “We had our chances,” Sales said. Both teams struggled to score out of

the starting gate. Byers was down 7-4 at the end of the first quarter.

“I told them to come here (to Mississippi Coliseum) knowing you likely won’t shoot the ball well,” Sales said. “We were too passive. We needed to attack the goal.”

He said Biggersville was doubling down on Devin Moore in the middle.

“It was tough for us to get him the ball,” Sales said.

Cedric Watson hit some second-quarter shots, and Moore ended the first half with a slam off an assist from Michael James. Byers was down 23-14.

The Biggersville Lions scored the first three points of the third and led by 12. Then an aggressive Byers defense, changing from a zone to manto-man, blanked the opponent the rest of the quarter. Meanwhile, James hit two key shots to put spark in the offense.

Byers trailed 26-21 going to the fourth, but couldn’t complete the comeback effort.

The leading scorer for Byers was Watson with 17 points. Top rebounder was Moore with a game-high 14.

Byers out-rebounded Biggersville 30 to 27. Each team shot 50 percent from the free-throw line — Byers six of 12 and Biggersville 12 of 24.

The Lions, who had made it to the state quarter-finals the previous two seasons, finished with a 22-5 record.

Sales said none of the high school prognosticators in Mississippi expected his team to be playing for a state championship in 2021-2022.

“The little school along the side of Highway 72 in Marshall County — no one knows about us,” he said. “But the teams that were supposed to be here (in Jackson) were home. This team proved a lot of people wrong.”

The Lions have put together three straight 20-win seasons and three straight district championships.

“This was a great season,” he said. “Unfortunately, we came up a little short as far as the gold ball goes.”

He will lose two seniors — Watson and Moore.