Douglass wins first county title

The winners won't be announced until March 7. But as far as Douglass coach Greg Williams is concerned, the rest for AA Mr. Basketball is over.

"To me, Parrish Hewitt is hands-down the best player in the state," Williams said. "He's a very amenable young man and he's a joy to coach."

Hewitt was also a joy to watch Saturday, scoring a game-high 24 points as the Red Devils pulled away in the fourth quarter to defeat Craigmont, 63-51, in the SCIAA Class AA county championship game at White Station. It's the first county title for Douglass (22-4) since the school re-opened in 2008.

"It's special," said Hewitt. "We made history."

Hewitt — who leads the city in scoring at just under 26 points per game — faces tough competition for the state's top individual award in AA. Bo Hodges of Maplewood and Knoxville Catholic's Luke Smith are both very good. And even though his coach is obviously a little biased, Hewitt has an excellent case.

He started the game in attack mode and had eight points in the first quarter — including three crowd-pleasing dunks. He converted an acrobatic 3-point play late in the fourth quarter just as it appeared the Chiefs (15-9) were about to make a run.

Williams credits his team's defense, which held Craigmont star Neil Blanchard to just 11 points.

"He got away from us one time and you see what he did; he knocked down a 3-pointer," Williams said.

Added Hewitt, "We wanted to keep attacking and make them play our game. We wanted to keep pushing them and speed the game up."

Jok Nebk scored all 11 of his points in the second half as Douglass extended what had been a 39-36 lead after three quarters. Nathan Payne also scored 11.

Brandon Bailey led the Chiefs with 14.

Mitchell is the opposite of Douglass; the Tigers are used to winning county championships. The Lady Tigers won the Class A crown for the third straight year, 74-49 over Booker T. Washington while the boys team used a typically dominant defense to turn back GRAD Academy, 67-48, for its fifth title in six seasons.

"This team has a lot of resiliency, a lot of fight," said boys coach Andre Turner. "I'm happy that we won but not elated. This is just another step on the journey."

After GRAD (16-3) had pulled to within three points early in the second quarter, Tomonique Marion and Moe Sanders fueled a run that pushed the lead to 45-28 at halftime.

"We bring it," said Sanders, who had 15 to lead the Tigers (19-7). "We compete every day. Play good hard defense and hit the open man."

DeWayne Nicholson had three 3s and finished with 13 while Joe Johnson added 11. Phabian Dale scored all 16 of his points in the second half to lead the Griffins.

While Mitchell's boys were on point from the beginning, the Lady Tigers had to shake off a little rust before blowing things open.

"We haven't played since Jan. 29," said coach Derek Hunter, whose team also was without two starters, who were taking the ACT, until just before tip-off.

"It was a long layoff and I knew there would be some rustiness. This is a team with strong faith. We're not just game-time Christians. We practice it every day."

Vertonia Bady led Mitchell (23-3) with 23. Derenisha Taylor added 18 while Miata Borders chipped in with 17. Derrenisha Jackson paced the Lady Warriors (18-7) with 23.

Raleigh-Egypt also turned up the tempo in the second half to pull away from Sheffield and win the AA girls title, 53-36. The Lady Pharaohs (15-7) allowed just 12 second-half points in beating the Lady Knights (18-6) convincingly for the second time this week.

"That's they way we've played ever since I've been at Raleigh-Egypt," said coach Anthony Jones. "We pressure, pressure, pressure. I make sure that my team is in the best shape possible and most other teams can't play that way.

"But credit my girls. They believe in Raleigh-Egypt."

Tasia Bland led Raleigh-Egypt with 14 while Zaykia Head chipped in with 12. Nikita Mays had 14 for Sheffield.

White Station (23-3) won the AAA girls championship, 54-26 over Ridgeway. State No. 1 East topped Cordova, 75-52, in the late AAA boys championship.

Reach Varlas at john.varlas@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @johnvarlas