By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

PASCAGOULA — It’s been a long journey for the Pascagoula High School boy’s basketball team.
And the Panthers have yet another mountain to climb Wednesday afternoon in their quest for the first-ever basketball state championship in school history.
Pascagoula sits at a spectacular 29-1, and with a school record 29-game win streak in tow the Panthers head to The Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson Wednesday morning to face off with Ridgeland at 8:30 p.m., Wednesday night in the Overall State Tournament Class 6A semifinals with a berth in the championship game on the line.
Ridgeland, which stands 23-9, features a 6-foot-10 post presence in senior center Ebo Wilson, as well as a pair of wing standouts and a talented point guard.

The Titans of veteran head coach Terrion McIntyre are coming off a 64-50 win over Center Hill Saturday in the Class 6A North State Quarterfinals round.
“They are an athletic scrappy bunch, I expect a physical game from them.” Pascagoula seventh-year head coach Lorenzo Wright said Tuesday morning. “They have a grown man on the inside, and they get really good guard play. They are a well-disciplined team.”
This marks the first meeting ever on the hardwood between the two teams. Ridgeland High has only been in existence for a little over two decades, founded in 2002.
In addition to Wilson, who is averaging right at a double-double with 9 points and 10 rebounds per contest, 6-foot-1 junior guard/forward Phil Nelson leads the Titans in scoring at 16 points per game. Nelson also grabs five boards per game and hands out four assists per contest. Morris Hammond, a 6-foot-3 senior small forward, puts in 12 points per game as does guard Stevent Watkins while sophomore Khameron Snow dishes out five assists per game also.

Nelson had 27 points, five rebounds and four assists in the Titans 79-48 win over Callaway recently and he had 18 points, five assists and three steals in a 56-51 win over Harrison Central at Hoopsfest in Gulfport.
In an 89-44 over Neshoba Central just before HoopsFest, Hammond poured in 36 points while shooting 13-of-17 from the field and had six rebounds and a trio of assists.
Nelson was named the Region 2-6A Most Valuable Player of the year while Wilson was named the Best Defensive Player.
Despite the nine total losses, Ridgeland has only dropped two games in the past six weeks and those by a combined four points. Those came in a 63-62 loss to Northwest Rankin which is playing in the Class 7A Final Four Thursday as well as 73-70 loss to Neshoba Central.

“We’ve just been focused on going 1-0 every time we take the court,” Wright added. “We’ve been fortunate to go 29-1 this season. Our goal is just to be the best team on the court on any given night.”
The Panthers head into the Big House for the Class 6A Final Four coming off a 61-39 win over Region 4-6A foe West Harrison Friday night. The win, in the Class 6A Elite Eight at Dantzler Arena on the campus of Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, was the third of the season for PHS over the Hurricanes.