Hilton Harrell has given plenty of victory speeches during his tenure as McComb’s coach.
He’s also had to deliver concession speeches, which are especially hard when the season ends.
Harrell’s end-of-season speech will have to wait at least another week as McComb outlasted Wingfield, 49-44, in Tuesday night’s Region 6-5A district tournament at McComb to clinch a berth in next week’s 5A South State tournament.
The win also puts the Tigers in the district championship game against Brookhaven, which knocked off top-seeded Pearl, 50-45.
“This is the most pressure game of the season,” Harrell said. “You win or go home.”
McComb (19-8) fought back from a nine-point halftime deficit and held Wingfield to just four points during the final quarter.
The Tigers scored only eight points in the quarter, but that was by design.
After taking a 46-42 lead with three minutes left, McComb went into stall mode as it dribbled around the court to waste nearly 2:30 off the clock.
McComb’s only bucket in the quarter came from Roy Patterson, who came off the bench to score five point s and grab three rebounds.
“He really gave us a lift off the bench — taking the ball to the basket, playing good defense and handling the pressure,” Harrell said.
The Tigers then swished six more free throws, including three down the stretch. They finished 10 of 16 from the charity stripe in the second half.
“In the playoffs, if you can’t play like that you won’t be playing long,” Harrell said of McComb’s late-game tactics. “There’s no more weak teams. You have to be smart, you have to be patient, and those are things we are working on. During the year this year, we didn’t do a good job in some games of doing that.”
McComb finally found a way to win a close game. Five of the Tigers’ eight losses this season were by six points or less. One of those games was a 58-54 loss in January to Wingfield.
The Tigers played the fourth quarter without Stacey Mack, who was battling a stomach bug.
Mack took Wingfield center Oliver Black out of the game early, however, with two quick fouls in the first quarter. Black finished with seven points and 13 rebounds.
Shemar Williams led McComb with 13 points and nine rebounds. Antonio Johnson chipped in with eight points and six rebounds and Antonio Cowart also had eight points.
Johnson had the key play in the game with the clock winding down in the third quarter. The junior stole stole the ball at midcourt and finished off a traditional 3-point play to give McComb a 41-40 lead heading into the fourth.
“The defensive effort on the other end and then finishing the 3-point play ... was just tremendous because we needed that,” said Harrell, who triumphantly slapped his hand after the bucket. “That’s what we wanted. We asked guys to step up and make some plays.”
