FERRIDAY — Huntington coach David Boydstun was not pleased with the way his team played in the first half of the District 6-A Tournament semifinal game against Claiborne Academy.

But all it took was a spirited halftime talk for the Hounds to get going.

Down 19-17 at halftime, Huntington outscored the Rebels 19-6 in the third quarter on their way to a 50-39 victory and a spot in the tournament championship game this afternoon.

“I gave them a hard talk at halftime,” Boydstun said. “I told them we had to be more aggressive and get after it, and they did. We got to a lot of loose balls and grabbed rebounds we weren’t getting in the first half.”

The game was tied a 20 with 5:40 left when Huntington broke the game open with a 16-2 run.

The Hounds took advantage of several fast break opportunities off of turnovers and rebounds as Claiborne was often late getting back on defense, leading to transition baskets for Huntington.

“We really did a good job of getting baskets in transition,” Boydstun said. “That opened the game up. We got about 10 or 12 points off of transition baskets and hung on from there.”

Tyler Peré led the way for Huntington with 14 points, while Josh Lee scored 13 and Phillip Washington scored 12.

Claiborne was led by Jason Tuggle with 16 points.

With the win, Huntington advanced to the district championship game at 4:45. The Hounds will face Riverdale, which beat Glenbrook in their semifinal game.

Huntington is guaranteed at least a No. 2 seed in the South State Tournament, which begins next week at Central Hinds Academy in Raymond.

Tensas Academy girls 49, Claiborne Academy 36

The Tensas Academy Lady Chiefs advanced to the District 6-A Tournament championship game with a 13-point win over Claiborne.

Tensas got off to a slow start in the game. They trailed by two points at the end of the first quarter and only led 14-13 at halftime.

However, they opened up the offense in the second half, outscoring the Lady Rebels 35-23 to pull away for the victory.

Mary Miller Ratcliff led Tensas with 20 points, while Jordan Leake scored eight, and Mary Elizabeth Crigler and Egan Ratcliff both chipped in with seven.

Claiborne was led by Samantha Newell with 12 points and Kerri Tomlinson with seven.

Tensas will play Riverdale in the championship game at 3:30 today at Huntington.