Vicksburg will head to Clinton Friday with a shot to take over first place in both the boys and girls Division 4-6A standings after sweeping Greenville-Weston Tuesday.

The fifth-ranked Vicksburg boys overcame a physical Hornet team 78-49 while the Missy Gators beat the former second-ranked team, the Honey Bees, for the second time this season, 58-54. Both Vicksburg teams are 3-1 in the four-team division and face Clinton, which is 1-0 in both boys and girls races after beating Warren Central last week.

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For VHS coach Dellie C. Robinson, the 29-point victory went a long way to making amends for a four-point loss to the Hornets in Greenville on Dec. 18.

“You have to be tough-minded when you play an Ernie Watson team,” Robinson said. “They played Wingfield, whom I think is the best team in the state, to six points. They get in your face and just hound your best players. But our guys fought through it. We knew they are not strong at the point guard (position) and we brought a lot of pressure on them.”

The Gators (16-2, 3-1) forced 28 turnovers while shooting just over 50 percent from the field (28-of-55). Mychal Ammons powered in a game-best 24 points and nine rebounds while Kelsey Howard had 23 points for the Gators.

Watson said his Hornets can’t give a team like the Gators extra chances with the ball.

“We beat them up at our place because we didn’t turn the ball over. We took care of it. But tonight it seemed like we turned it over 40 times. You can’t beat a good team doing that. And Vicksburg is a good team,” Watson said.

Watson tried to run waves of players at the Gators, creating pressure fouls and tried to make it an ugly game.

“You just have to play and not let them or the refs get to you,” Howard said. “We’re the ones who got a district win tonight.”

Vicksburg went up 31-13 early in the second quarter and led 40-29 at the half. Ammons had 16 points at the half.

Howard hit three straight shots in the third quarter to boost the spread up to 19 at 56-37. The Hornets got it down to 14 twice, the last with seven minutes to go after a basket by Armon Evans made it 58-44. The Gators then refired the heat, converting six steals into easy baskets for a second straight blowout win in the division, following Saturday’s rout at Warren Central.

Kiente Ross had another blue-collar game off the bench with six points, eight rebounds, four steals and six assists. Danny Bolden led Greenville-Weston with 12 points.

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Contact Jeff Byrd at jbyrd@vicksburgpost.com