No. 3 Brookhaven shocked No. 1 Laurel Friday night.
In a low scoring affair, Brookhaven beat Laurel 47-45 to claim the Region 5-5A Tournament title and a first-round bye in the upcoming playoffs.
Because of disciplinary action within the program, Laurel played without several key figures, but head coach Marcus Price said that's not a worthy excuse.
"We had four guys out due to suspension," said Price. "Two of them were starters. It was due to breaking team rules. I would rather lose and teach our guys the right things versus win and make them think that it's okay to misbehave. Sometimes you have to take these lumps and do things the right way.
“First and foremost, credit to Brookhaven. They came prepared and played hard. They executed [when we did not].
The game plan, says Price, was to contain Brookhaven’s star player La’Darius Thrasher.
“But once Thrasher got going,” Price said, “there wasn’t nothing we could do against him.”
Thrasher led Brookhaven with 20 points. Teammate Johntavious Wilkerson also finished in double-digits with 16.
Laurel also had two to finish in double figures. Khylin Dixon led the Tornadoes with 22, while Jaylin Ellis netted 11.
Brookhaven led 19-13 at the half.
A 14-9 run in the third period handed the lead back to Laurel, 28-27, as 2:07 ticked on the clock. Moments later, a basket while drawing a foul by Thrasher gave the lead back to Brookhaven.
The Panthers held on from there.
What's Next:
Laurel enters the postseason as the No. 2 seed and will host Picayune on Tuesday night. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m.
Note:
No. 2 West Jones enters the postseason as the No. 3 seed after defeating rivals South Jones Friday night in the boys' consolation game, 67-55. The Mustangs travel to Pearl River Central Tuesday night in round one action. Tip-off is at 6 p.m. as well.
