Senior guard Zaveion Chism-Okoh willed the Tigers to victory Tuesday night versus a stingy Paris Wildcat team at Willie Williams Gym pouring in a career best 40 points. The 40-point mark is the highest by a Tiger player since D’Aundra Fields put up 46 points in 2013. The win kept the Tigers’ season perfect at 4-0 as the football players joined their team on the court giving the Tigers a new look and feel on both sides of the ball.

The Tigers took an early 7-2 lead before Paris answered with both teams trading buckets throughout the first quarter. Mount Pleasant held a slim 17-14 lead after one period in a game that saw the lead change hands 10 times. The second quarter saw the Tigers clamp down on defense holding Paris to just 4 points and increasing the lead to 28-18 going into the break. Mount Pleasant pushed the lead to 36-24 late in the third before Paris surged back to make it 40-34 heading into the fourth quarter. Okoh and Paris’ Jaelyn Lee seemed to be going blow for blow with both players scoring at will. Lee led the Wildcats with a team-high 26 before fouling out late in the game. The fourth quarter saw Paris claw their way back staking a three-point lead late in the fourth, 53-50. The Tigers would tie it back up at 55-55 with clutch free throws by Okoh and a desperation heave at the buzzer by Paris would fall short and the game would head to overtime.

The overtime period saw the Tigers take back control of the game with Paris’ leading scorer disqualified. Jakybrein Hines would go 8 for 8 from the free throw line in the final frame to help seal the game and the Tigers would take the 71-65 win. Okoh was very efficient in his scoring going 13 of 18 from the field and 8 for 10 from the charity stripe. He would also connect on 6 shots from behind the arc and add a team high 4 steals. Hines finished with 11 points. Other scorers were Payton Chism 6 points, Kelcey Morris and Wills Hills with 3 points each, and Miller McCrumby, Devin Willams, Xzavier Brown, and Edward Wilder with 2 points each. McCrumby led the Tigers on the boards pulling down 8 rebounds.

The Tigers will face Maud on Friday with the Varsity playing at 6:30 PM. The following week has Mount Pleasant hosting Mesquite Horn on Friday and Pittsburg on Saturday in non-district action. All tickets must be purchased online through the MPISD website and all games will be live streamed on the Mount Pleasant Tiger Basketball YouTube channel.

 

By Drew Barkley