By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

JACKSON — It seems almost unbelievable, but yet here it is.
When the Class 6A boys state basketball championship tips off here at The Mississippi Coliseum on Saturday afternoon, the Pascagoula Panthers won’t be in uniform.
Winners of a school record 29 straight games, and with one of the best overall seasons in Panther program history, PHS will be watching from afar as Ridgeland takes on Olive Branch at 4 p.m., at The Big House in the title tilt.
Wednesday night, in the Final Four round, Ridgeland displayed a stellar defensive approach and knocked off heavily favored and top-ranked Pascagoula 48-42. The Panthers finished at an impressive 29-2 overall.
Head coach Lorenzo Wright’s Panthers were the prohibitive favorite to claim the first-ever crown in school history on the hardwood as well as become the first-ever basketball teams of any type from Jackson County to win a Gold Ball coming into the Overall State Tournament earlier this week.

But instead, it’s the Titans playing for their first-ever state crown and the Conquistadors vying for their second title ever.
Pascagoula elevated to the top of most of the various state-wide polls and predictions as not only the favorite to easily claim the Class 6A crown but was widely regarded as the best team in any classification after its win streak reached 15 games just four days after Christmas when the Panthers registered their 15th consecutive win in taking the tourney title in the inaugural Madison County Invitational Christmas Classic with an exciting 67-65 win over powerful Canton.
Canton just captured the Class 5A state championship Friday night with a 58-40 win over Yazoo City. Pascagoula also beat Yazoo City 60-59 in mid-January.
Despite a tough regular season schedule that also included wins over Meridian, which is playing for the Class 7A state title Saturday night, as well as Biloxi, Terry, Hattiesburg, Harrison Central, Picayune, Madison Central, Jackson Academy and Velma Jackson among others, in the end it was all for naught for the Panthers.

“It was disappointing simply because we didn’t meet our goal, we just had a bad night and you have to credit Ridgeland for that.” Wright said on Friday night, some 48 hours after the end of the season came in almost shocking fashion. “I felt like we were a little tight for the first time all season, being on that stage can do that to you sometimes. In this game, sometimes the best team doesn’t always come out on top and I feel like that’s the case here. If we played them again, we would beat them in a series but unfortunately, that’s not how the tournament is set up.”
It marked the first time since 2018 that the Panthers qualified for a trip to The Big House and the Overall State Tournament. The Panthers also made six straight trips to the Mississippi Coliseum from 2011-2106, giving them eight appearances in The Big House in the past 14 years.
But they’ve come home empty-handed and without a win on the biggest stage each time.

“When we were in the quarterfinals six years ago we played like individuals, this year we played more like a unit, we just fell short.” Wright added. “It’s a process, and if we get back next year or the following year we will be better as a result of all this. We just have to continue to grow.”
Pascagoula loses a lot of firepower as it looks to the future, as one of the most successful senior classes in program history departs with Class 6A Mr. Basketball Dorian McMillan at guard, forward Chris North and center Markeuse Grady in tow. Wright also loses his sixth man Cle’Darrius Ross.

The Panthers will look for more production from starters Blake Nettles and Kelan Rich who will return next season, along with key reserves Tylan Wilson and Justin Roque all of which saw considerable action this season for PHS.

“We were sophomore heavy on the bench this season,” Wright concluded. “They grew up a lot this year.”

Pascagoula has made it to the state championship game just once in school history, that coming 47 years ago in 1977 when the Panthers fell to Florence.
The Panthers now have a few more tries to remedy that situation before the streak grows to 50 years without a trip back to the title tilt.