By Stan Caldwell
stanmansportsfan.com
HATTIESBURG – The North Forrest boys have been flying under the radar among the state’s small-school basketball elite, but lately the secret has gotten out.
The Eagles put together their third consecutive impressive performance in the playoffs Tuesday night at North Forrest Gym, punching their ticket to Jackson for the Class 2A Final Four with a 61-48 victory over Region 8-2A rival St. Patrick in the quarterfinals.
North Forrest (25-4) will face Ingomar at noon next Tuesday at Mississippi Coliseum in the state semifinals, getting to the Big House for the first time since 2000. St. Patrick finished its season 23-7, four of those losses coming at the hands of the Eagles.
“It’s surreal,” said North Forrest coach Quenton Loving. “It’s surreal to get to Jackson. These kids deserve it. They’ve worked so hard and they’re so excited about it.”
The Eagles overcame serious foul trouble that forced Loving to juggle his bench with several starters playing with three and four fouls.
“The second half, we did have some foul trouble with some of our leading scorers and key guys,” said Loving.
“We had to trade some defense for offense, because we didn’t want our guys to pick up their fourth or fifth fouls. Some of our role players had to come in and play big minutes.”
A near-capacity crowd that included a sizeable contingent of Fighting Irish fans saw a thoroughly-entertaining contest that was closer than the final score indicated.
St. Patrick took an early five-point lead, 7-2 and 9-4, but sophomore Joe Holloway keyed a 6-0 run that put the Eagles ahead at the end of the first quarter, and they never relinquished the lead the rest of the way.
Holloway, one of North Forrest’s leading scorers, was one of those players in foul trouble in the second half, but he played most of the pivotal fourth quarter with four fouls.
“I came in with a great mindset that I had to do what I needed to help my team,” said Holloway, a 6-foot-3 forward who led the Eagles with 18 points. “When I got those fouls, I knew I had play more with my feet than my hands to keep from getting that fifth foul.”
North Forrest started to get some separation in the second quarter, thanks to a 3-point shooting spree from senior Nick Moore, who swished four treys from all around the arc: left sideline, right wing, top of the key and left wing.
“I’ve been pretty streaky all year, but this time I knew I needed it,” said Moore, a 5-foot-9 guard who finished with 14 points. “My guys needed me to get to Jackson, so I knew I needed to step my game up.”
But the Eagles could never quite shake the Fighting Irish until the last four minutes of the game. North Forrest led by as many as seven points in the first half and took a 28-23 lead into halftime.
The third quarter seemed to be a calm before the storm, as neither team mounted much offense, but it was a different story in a frantic fourth quarter that saw the two teams combine for 48 points.
Holloway gave the Eagles their biggest lead of the game to that point, 38-29, with a putback off a missed 3-pointer, but Irish senior Jay Parker converted two one-and-ones, plus a fast-break lay-up, to reel the Eagles back in.
The turning point came midway through the period, when a second made free throw, that would have cut the lead to two points, was waved off for a lane violation.
While the Eagles made 17 of 22 foul shots in the fourth quarter, St. Patrick missed its last six shots from the line.
“We put a lot of emphasis on free throws, because we lost a couple of games earlier this season because of free throws,” said Holloway, who was 6 of 6 from the line. “We knew this was a big game, so we really worked on foul shooting today at the shootaround.”
It was another senior, 6-2 forward Leon Jones, who put the finishing flourish on the victory on back-to-back possessions, getting a baseline drive for a lay-up, then coming down the line again for a thunderous dunk that put the Eagles up 52-41.
Jones finished with 11 points for North Forrest. Parker led all scorers with 22 points in his final game for St. Patrick.
As for North Forrest, the Eagles are no longer the best-kept secret in South Mississippi.
“Man, it’s a dream come true,” said Moore. “We’ve been through a lot the last couple of years, and we had a lot of failures last year. We worked our butts off during the summer, and we’ve been talking about this all year.
“The sky’s the limit for this team. The chemistry, the hard work. Man, we can do anything.”
Prep Basketball Summary
MHSAA State Tournament
Class 2A Quarterfinal round
Tuesday at North Forrest
BOYS
North Forrest 61, St. Patrick 48
St.P 9 14 4 21 – 48
NF 10 18 6 27 – 61
ST. PATRICK (23-7): Michael Moeller 4, Holden Hewes 3, Jay Parker 22, Nick Crass 7, Windfield Swetman 8, Drew Roth 4. TOTALS – FG 17-46 (3FG 4-13), FT 10-19.
NORTH FORREST (25-4): Nick Moore 14, Leon Jones 11, Xzavier Barnes 7, Joe Holloway 18, Tre Williams 2, Brian Swanson 7, Darius Reed 2. TOTALS – FG 19-49 (3FG 4-16), FT 19-24.
