GREENVILLE &045; Trinity Episcopal head coach David King and his Saints had heard all about Briarfield scoring machine Montellus Craft.

But in the first six minutes of Wednesday’s South State tournament contest, no one heard from him or any other Rebels. The Saints started out with a 17-0 lead six minutes into the contest before taking a 50-39 win to clinch a spot in next week’s Class A state tournament at University Christian School.

The Saints will play the winner of today’s Franklin Academy-Grawood winner at 6 p.m. Friday. The winner of that will play for the South State championship at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

&uot;They’re just a good ball club, and we jumped on them early,&uot; King said. &uot;They had one of the better players in all of MPSA in Montellus Craft. The kids didn’t want the season to end. That go-home game is out of the way. I’m just glad our kids are still playing. After all this group has been through with off-the-court stuff, they have really made progress since November.&uot;

The Saints held a 17-2 lead by the end of the first quarter and stayed in the lead thanks in part to defense on Craft. The Briarfield star finished with 18, but the Saints played tough defense on him with Ryan Rachal spending most of the game in a man-to-man defense on him.

When Rachal was out, Gregory Ketchings and Stevan Ridley took turns trying to stop him.

&uot;He’s just a scorer,&uot; King said. &uot;We play hard, and we’re not going to score a lot of points. Craft is probably one of the better athletes in all of MPSA. He’s a great kid, and I coached him in the All-Star game. I knew he was going to be a load. We defended him well.&uot;

The Rebels cut the lead to 29-20 at halftime, but the Saints held them to eight points in the third quarter to take a 38-28 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Trinity’s top scorers were Robert Manson with 16 and Rachal with 15.

AC boys 68, Copiah 45

JACKSON &045; There was no letdown. No time needed to get warmed up and get rolling.

The Rebels came out firing Wednesday in their South State tournament opener against Copiah, their first game in eight days, and got a firm grip on the lead quick.

The Rebels will now face Hillcrest at 7:30 p.m. Friday in a semifinal contest after Wednesday’s win clinched a spot in the Class AAA state tournament next week at Jackson Prep.

The Rebels need a win Friday to avoid facing either MRA or Jackson Academy &045; two of the top teams in Class AAA &045; in the first round of the state tournament.

&uot;Friday is probably the biggest game of the year for us to be in good position for us to get a chance to go on to Overall,&uot; Gray said. &uot;But I’m really proud of them from this point on. They’ve really battled, and I’ve enjoyed working with them.&uot;

But on Wednesday the Rebels jumped out to a 20-7 lead by the end of the first quarter and a 44-19 lead at halftime after out-scoring the Colonels 22-12 in the second. The lead got to 40-24 heading into the fourth quarter.

But the Colonels’ 14-8 edge in the fourth did cause for Gray to worry some. It’s there the layoff started to show some with a slight case of dead legs.

&uot;We started out strong, played good defense and rebounded,&uot; Gray said. &uot;We ran the floor real well tonight. Even with the layoff, I thought we came out playing real well. But we looked like we hadn’t played and got physically exhausted (late).&uot;

Glenn Williams led the Rebels with 18 points.

Simpson 55, Centreville girls 32

MENDENHALL &045; The Lady Tigers trailed at halftime and were at least within striking distance, but that’s when the KO punch came.

The Lady Cougars, the No. 1 seed out of District 3, delivered a shot in the form of a 13-0 run in the third quarter to eventually put away the Lady Tigers and end their season at the Class AA South State tournament.

&uot;It killed us,&uot; Centreville head coach Penny Sawyer said. &uot;They were in better shape than we were. But Simpson had to work hard. Their defense in the third quarter was really good, but they worked hard to score. They kept Jenae (Jackson) out of the middle. They shut her down in the middle.&uot;

Jackson, a Southern Miss signee, scored 26 of her team’s points, but most of them came outside the lane on jumpers. The Lady Cougars led 16-7 after the first quarter and 35-17 at half before the third quarter put their lead at 48-17 heading into the fourth quarter.

Copiah 38, AC girls 25

JACKSON &045; The Lady Colonels used a solid first quarter to build up a lead and eventually put away the Lady Rebels at the Class AAA South State tournament.

Copiah led 13-3 after one before taking a 19-10 lead at half. The Lady Rebels trimmed it to 27-20 heading into the fourth quarter, but that’s where the Lady Colonels put the game away with an 11-5 run.

Anna McLemore led the Lady Rebels with seven points.