5A Playoffs: Jermarcus Riley-Davis, Corey Jackson lift Canton over Callaway in 75-64 win

JACKSON — Canton coach Russell Evans will be the first to tell you his team played too tentative in the Region 3 Tournament last weekend at Holmes County Central.

The Tigers came in as a favorite to win the tournament and get the first-round bye, but they lost to Neshoba Central and narrowly defeated Ridgeland 30-29 to get into the tournament.

That may be why Evans looked so relieved Tuesday night after the final buzzer sounded on the Tigers' 75-64 first-round win over Callaway in the MHSAA 5A State Tournament.

"It would have been easy to us to get discouraged or pack it in as the three-seed," Evans said. "That's why I'm so proud of my guys and the way they played tonight."

The Tigers advanced to the second round with the win, and will face Cleveland Central in the second round Saturday night. The Wolves had a first-round bye.

Like so many games for Canton this season, the Tigers (19-7) started hot Tuesday night and jumped out to a big lead early.

Jamarcus Riley hit a three-pointer halfway through the first quarter to give the Tigers an 11-2 lead, then hit a layup a minute later to push it to 16-2. They led 20-6 at the end of the first quarter.

But just like so many of those earlier games, the Tigers got caught watching the scoreboard after gaining the big advantage.

Callaway fought its way back late in the second quarter with a 7-0 run that cut Canton's lead to 33-21 at the break.

The Chargers (13-13) trimmed the lead to five points, 36-31, half way through the third quarter on a three-pointer from Marquise Nichols, but that's as close as they got.

The Tigers stretched it back to 45-36 a couple of minutes later on a three-pointer from James Taylor, and led it 47-37 going into the final quarter.

The game had shades of the Dec. 7 meeting between the two teams. In that game, Canton led by as many as 16 in the fourth quarter before Callaway came back to steal a 64-60 win.

On Tuesday, Canton took a 17-point four-quarter lead. This time, they protected it.

Riley made back-to-back huge plays early in the fourth quarter. First, he scored on a fast break and drew an intentional foul. After he drained both free throws for the four-point play, he took the ensuing in-bounds pass and buried a three-pointer from the corner to give the Tigers the 60-43 lead with five minutes to go.

"The pressure got to us the first game, but tonight, we held on," Evans said. "A lot of that is about Callaway. Coach Speak's team plays hard and we knew they would coming in. This was one of our better games of the season and we're happy to walk away with the win."

Canton had many contributors: Corey Jackson finished with 26 points and Jamarion Fleming chipped in eight. But nobody impacted the game more than Riley — the senior point guard scored 28 points, drilling four three-pointers, racked up several steals and made one big play after another for Canton.

"We didn't play the way we felt we were capable of playing in the district tournament," Riley said. "So we had to get to work preparing for this game. We've gotta do the same thing this week — get back in the gym and prepare for Cleveland Central."

Feature photo by Brandon Shields