CLINTON — The Jackson Academy Raiders were the only team tobeat the Brookhaven Academy Cougars during regular season play. JAis the defending MPSA Overall champ. Wednesday night at A.E. WoodColiseum, the second matchup of the season would have the sameending in the Overall Tournament.

In quarterfinal action last night, red-hot point guard StevenBlevins pumped in a game-high 20 points to spark the JA Raiders toa 58-52 win over the Cougars before a near-capacity crowd of 3,000fans. Blevins, a senior, grabbed 4 rebounds, made 2 steals and had9 assists.

In other boys games, Madison-Ridgeland smashed Clarksdale Lee58-36 and Hillcrest clipped Rossville, Tenn.. 51-47 to advance toFriday’s semis.

In girls action, Jackson Prep eliminated Simpson 56-45 and JAthumped Marvell, Ark. 56-41.

JA (32-3), coached by Bill Ball, advances to the semifinalsagainst archrival Jackson Prep (24-11) Friday at 7:15 p.m. atMillsaps College. The other boys semis game featuresMadison-Ridgeland against Hillcrest Christian at 6.

In the girls semis, Prep faces Presbyterian Christian at 1 p.m.and JA follows at 2:15 against Pillow. The teams return to MC onSaturday for the championship games.

BA finishes the season with a 34-2 record. The Cougars are theState AA champions.

“We had a good year,” said BA boys coach Dale Watts followingthe game. “We only lost two ball games. We had severalopportunities. We just fell short.”

JA finished with 12 turnovers compared to BA’s 8.

BA held an early 4-2 lead but JA came back to take an 11-8 leadat the end of the first quarter. In second-quarter play, theCougars took their third lead of the game, 13-12, on an offensiveputback by post player Seth Davis with 5:21 left. BA pushed itslead to to 4 points, 17-13. at the 3:55 mark on a 3-point play fromDavis.

Blevins led a late charge with back-to-back treys to tie thegame at 18-all, then push JA’s lead to 21-18. At the half, theRaiders led the Cougars 26-22.

A 3-point shot by BA’s Cole Hodges cut the deficit to 2-points,33-31, with 3:20 left in the third quarter. JA responded with aquick 4-1 run to go ahead 37-32 with 1:55 remaining.

Going into the final frame, the Raiders enjoyed an 8-point,42-34, lead over the Cougars. JA pushed their lead to 13 points,49-36, with 5:28 left in the game. BA cut the deficit to six pointsat the end.

“I think tonight we had to make some decisions,” explainedWatts. “They (JA) are a power team. They rotated three post playersin. I was worried about their big players inside. We couldn’t matchup with them.

“We backed off No. 4 (Blevins),” continued Watts. “He’s a goodplayer. He began to hit some of those shots we gave him.”

Powering the Cougars with 15 points was Winborne. Davis had 14points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists was Davis. Hodges fired in 14points. Hodges led off the backboards with 9 rebounds and 5assists. Winborne also grabbed 6 rebounds and had 2 assists.

Assisting the Raiders with 9 points and 4 rebounds each were RobPuckett and Ryan Geary.