By By Marty Stamper / EMG sports assistant
March 2, 2004
JACKSON Heidelberg coach Ted Williams must have felt like he had a gusher coming in as his Oilers took a 38-20 lead into halftime of Monday afternoon's MHSAA Class 2A State Tournament game with West Tallahatchie.
Heidelberg, 24-8, went on to claim a 67-49 victory in the Mississippi Coliseum.
Heidelberg led 17-9 at the end of the first period as the Choctaws were off-target early in their first state tournament appearance since 1978.
In building the 18-point first-half lead, Heidelberg got 11 points from Shannon Jones, all of which came in the second quarter. Travis Stephens had nine, Jordan Payne seven, Nathan Maye six, and Andre Stephens five.
Marlon Jones had half of West Tallahatchie's 20 points.
After a shaky Heidelberg start to the second half in which the Choctaws closed to within 42-30, the Oilers hit another pocket of points as they went on an 11-0 run to grab a 53-30 lead in the final minute of the third quarter.
Heidelberg led 55-33 to start the fourth quarter.
West Tallahatchie scored 10 of the first 11 points of the fourth quarter to get as close as 56-43 with five minutes left.
The Oilers got 17 points from Andre Stephens, 16 from Payne, 13 from Shannon Jones, nine from Travis Stephens, and six each from Maye and Jajuan Williams.
Heidelberg returns to action Friday at 8 p.m. against Lumberton, 24-3. The two did not meet in last week's Class 3A South State Tournament.
West Tallahatchie, 25-11, got 14 points from Marlon Jones and 10 from Christopher Pigue.