During Seminary’s deep postseason run in football this past November, the school’s basketball team played without some of their top talent for nearly a month, and it showed in the standings. The Bulldogs started the season 1-7, but as soon as they got those football players back, things started to turn around.
“We started to click,” Seminary coach Crandal Porter said. “It didn’t take much for them to come in and get back on the right track.”
Now, those same players have Seminary primed for yet another postseason run. The Bulldogs opened the Class 3A basketball playoffs on Tuesday night with an 80-65 win over Wilkinson County. Mississippi State football signee Nathan Pickering led the way with 21 points, 2000-yard rusher Marquis Crosby poured in 17 and starting middle linebacker Austin Keys added 12.
The trio did most of their damage from the free throw line, converting 28-of-32 shots from the charity stripe. As a team, Seminary shot 50 free throws, and the Bulldogs made 82 percent of them.
“That was one of our better performances at the free throw line,” Porter said. “We had actually been struggling there. We’ve been working hard on it, and it’s paying off.
“It feels great. Last year, we got beat in the first round, and one of our goals this year was to take another step.”
If they’re destined to take another in a few days, Porter knows they’ll have to play better and with more energy from the get-go. After one quarter of play against Wilkinson County, the Bulldogs trailed 14-12. In the second, Porter went to the press with hopes of it bringing his team the energy they needed to pull away.
It did just that. Seminary outscored Wilkinson County 21-10 in the quarter and 68-51 the rest of the way to earn the double digit win.
“Proud of the way they executed our press and rotated,” Porter said. “It kind of sped the game up a little bit, and we’re at our best when we’re playing faster.”
Leon Watson added 13 points for the Bulldogs, who will travel to Velma Jackson this Saturday for the second round.
“They [Velma Jackson] are well-coached, and that place is tough to win at,” Porter said. “We’ll have our hands full, but I’m excited about the opportunity.”
Opening tip is scheduled for 7 pm.
