It’s The City, it’s The City, it’s The City, Yazoo City wins first title in 26 years

Anthony Carlyle is a living Legend, tonight he won his sixth championship with three different schools in ten years. Yazoo City knocked off Raymond 53-43 to win their first basketball state title in twenty six years.

“The City” (Yazoo City) came out on fire at the beginning of this game. They had Raymond on their heels. The Raymond crowd was the quietest I have ever seen then at the Big House. At the half the score was 28-13.

After the half, Raymond found their swag. Eric Paymon was on fire. Coach Tadlock had his guys adjusted. At one point in the third the score was 35-30. A questionable charge gave the ball back to the Indians, and it killed Raymond’s momentum. “I told my boys that they are a championship program,” said Anthony Carlyle, referring to his half-time speech. “I told them they were going to make a run. We talked about it at half-time. I told them they were not going to just quit and let us go along with the win.”

Yazoo City came out on fire in the second half. The juniors Damarion Winston and Tamarion Hoover were some big time leaders for the Indians. They were the ones making big plays for the Indians, fighting off Raymond.

Things didn’t get better for Raymond in the fourth quarter. The City was still scoring with ease. Raymond had the game back within six with a little less than a minute to go. Some clutch free throws by The City put all hopes in the bag. The game was over and the gold ball was heading back up 55 North. 

“Our thing is, we just wanted to be in control, and dominate from beginning to the end. We knew they were going to make a run, but we wanted to leave no doubt that we were the better team!”