By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

CLINTON, Miss. — The Mississippi boys team pulled out an exciting 78-77 win over Alabama Saturday afternoon in the 34th annual Alabama/Mississippi All-Star Basketball Classic.
And a couple of “Southern Six” senior standouts were key figures in the big win that snapped a two game losing streak for the Magnolia State squad in the annual affair.
St. Patrick’s Matt Krass drained what turned out to be the eventual game-winner on a 15-foot jump shot with :26 seconds left to give Mississippi the lead and then the host squad turned away a couple of last second shots by its neighboring rival in the final few seconds to pull out the win.

Pascagoula’s Dorian McMillian and Krass shared game-high honors scoring 18 points apiece to lead Mississippi. McMillian was named the Mississippi Most Valuable Player in the contest that was played in front of a large crowd.
“Great way for a fine young man to end his high school career, I couldn’t be more proud of him,” Pascagoula head coach Lorenzo Wright, who served as an assistant coach for the Mississippi team said. “He deserved to be the MVP along with Matt Krass. They represented the coast well today.”
Alabama led 77-74 with right at one minute to play, when McMillian had a steal and converted it into a lay-up with :57 seconds left to cut the deficit to one point at 77-76. That play set up the big shot by Krass on the next trip down the court for Mississippi.

“I live for that moment. Big time players make big time plays,” McMillian, the Class 6A “Mr. Basketball” in the state of Mississippi this year, said. “This feels great. I got to be with my coach for one last time and it was a win. A lot of good players came before me and won the MVP, so it feels good to be a part of it.”
McMillian added five rebounds and two assists to his MVP worksheet. He had just four points at halftime, but poured in a game-high 14 second half points as Mississippi rallied for the win.
“It was a big honor to be selected for this game,” he added. “I’m not a selfish player, I like to get players the ball that can score as well as myself. At the end of the day, i want to win no matter if I get 30 points or five, a win is a win.”

Avery Thomas of Terry posted a double-double for Mississippi with 14 points and 11 rebounds, and Raymond’s big center Eric Paymon chipped in 11 points and nine boards to the winning effort as the Magnolia State squad placed our players in double digits. Gulfport’s Amir Abdul Rauf finished with three points.
Krass and Thomas scored 12 points apiece in the first half as Mississippi and Alabama were tied up at 41-41 heading into halftime. The game remained close throughout the second half as well, knotted up at 63-63 with 8:19 left, before Alabama went on a 10-2 run to go up 73-65 with 5:18 left remaining.
But McMillian scored eight points down the stretch, including that key steal and lay-up, and the big jump shot by Krass wrapped up a game-ending 13-4 spurt for the home team to win the game.

Caleb Harrison of Huntsville also had 18 points to lead Alabama.

Alabama earned a split of the days proceedings as they opened the action on Saturday with a 65-59 win over Mississippi.
Trailing by double digits at 57-47 early in the fourth quarter, Alabama ended the game on an 18-2 run to pull out the win and has now won seven in a row in the series.
Southern University signee De’Mya Porter of Bogue Chitto had 19 points and 10 rebounds to lead Mississippi and was named the MVP for Mississippi. Auburn signee Jordan Hunter had 25 points to pace Alabama and was named the Alabama MVP.

Hancock’s Brooklyn Cuevas had a team-high three assists for Mississippi.
The Alabama girls lead the all-time series 20-14 while the Alabama boys are still up slightly at 18-16 all-time.
Home-standing Alabama swept both games last year at The Mitchell Center in Mobile, Ala., on the campus of the University of South Alabama.