Southeast Lauderdale tops Holly Springs to earn first-ever berth 3A Boys Championship berth

JACKSON — For the first time in school history, the Southeast Lauderdale boys are headed to the state championship game.

Thanks to some aggressive second-half defense and the star power of Eli Walker, the Tigers got past Holly Springs 57-47 in the Semifinal Round of the MHSAA Boys Class 3A playoffs at the Mississippi Coliseum on Wednesday afternoon.

SE Lauderdale (18-10) will face Booneville (26-5) for the Class 3A State Championship on Saturday at 3 p.m.

Things couldn’t have started out any better for Holly Springs and any worse for SE Lauderdale. The Hawks raced out to a 11-3 lead at the end of the first quarter. Southeast's three points came from the free throw line.

“The guys were nervous and pressing to start the game, but when they got it together, we started doing what we do and got it done,” said SE Lauderdale coach Centel Truman. “Our older guys stepped up and defensively we switched up some things and it gave them problems.”

The second quarter is when the Tigers took control of the game, as they outscored the Hawks 21-7 in the quarter to take a 24-18 lead at halftime.

In the third quarter, SE Lauderdale outscored Holly Springs 14-8 and ended the quarter on a 10-4 run to extend their lead to 38-26 headed into the fourth quarter.

An 11-3 run to begin the fourth quarter and a Walker three-pointer from the wing gave the Tigers a commanding 50-31 lead and sealed the game.

“We switched to a zone, and it gave them problems and took away from them getting downhill,” Truman said. “They presented a matchup that was favoring us, and our guard play did a good job of taking advantage of it.”

Walker had 13 points to lead SE Lauderdale, while Demondre Graham added 11 points and Jertorion Landrum had 10 points for the Tigers.

“We came out sluggish and once we got it together, we handled our business,” Walker said. “We turned up the aggressiveness on the defensive end and was able to make shots on offensive end.”

Ded’drick Faulkner had 15 points to lead Holly Springs, while Marq uavous Jones added 13 points for the Hawks (13-17).

“We had a good start and the guys didn’t take advantage of the open shots they were given,” said Holly Springs coach Andre Jones. “We let them speed us up and they did a good job of limiting us to just one or two shots each possession.”