Chris Humes of VHS and Wingfield’s Edrick Montgomery go for a loose ball. (The Vicksburg Post/PAT SHANNAHAN)

[01/29/01] Vicksburg High’s backcourt teamed up to push the Gators past Wingfield Saturday at the Red Carpet Classic.

Miguel Henyard finished with a team-high 17 points and hit a pair of 3-pointers early in the third quarter that rallied the Gators from a nine-point deficit, while Jason Walker scored all eight of his points in the fourth quarter, hit six free throws down the stretch and grabbed several big rebounds to help preserve the 56-49 victory.

“(Henyard) has been in a slump about the last 10 or 12 games, and we knew one game he was going to come out of it. This was certainly a great game for him to come out of his slump,” VHS coach Dellie Robinson said.

The Gators shot just 25 percent in the first half and trailed 23-17 at the break. A 3-pointer by Wingfield’s David Doty, who led his team with 17 points, pushed it to 26-17 with 6:41 to play in the third period.

But Henyard hit his two 3-pointers about two minutes later to help cut it to 26-24, and the baskets triggered a 17-3 run that gave VHS a 34-29 lead at the end of the quarter.

“After that, the momentum started flowing,” said Henyard, who scored all of his points in the second half.

The Gators’ lead never got much bigger, and Wingfield managed to shave it down to one point, 47-46, with under two minutes to play.

But Walker converted a 3-point play with 1:40 remaining to make it 50-46, then hit three more free throws over the last stretch and grabbed two of his six rebounds off of missed free throws by Wingfield to help hold off the Falcons.

“The game wouldn’t have been won if Jason hadn’t done that. When we get a lead on a team and we can spread the floor and get Jason to the foul line then we feel good about our chances of winning,” Robinson said.

Wingfield was coming off a tough one-point division loss to No. 3 Lanier on Friday, and Falcons’ coach Herman Sanders admitted his team wasn’t at its best against the Gators.

“That big game last night just drained us. It just took a lot out of us. It was hard to get them up after that,” Sanders said.

(G) Purvis 58, VHS 33

A shooting swoon sent the Missy Gators down to defeat at the hands of the 13th-ranked Lady Naders.

VHS trailed by just one point, 9-8, at the end of the first quarter, but hit just two of its next 17 shots in the second and third quarters. Purvis committed only five turnovers over the same stretch, hit 56 percent of its shots, and outscored the Missy Gators 37-12.

“I thought we played well, we just didn’t shoot the ball very well,” VHS coach Mike Coleman said.

“I told the girls after the game that I was proud of the effort because they worked as hard as they have all year. We just couldn’t get anything to drop. We were missing wide-open layups.”

Shalonda Williams led VHS with 12 points and was the only Missy Gator in double figures.

Shonda Parker led Purvis with 20 points and six rebounds and Ykeisha Gray added 14 points and five assists.

“We’re real excited about this,” Purvis coach Wayne Fortenberry said of playing in the RCC. “This was a big event for us, because we’re from a little town down south of Hattiesburg. This is like going to the big city for us.”