By JOSEPH W. GEX IISports Writer

Bay St. Louis —St. Stanislaus survived a big scare Saturday afternoon in the second round of the Class 4A South State playoffs.

But in the end, the Rock-A-Chaws not only picked up their 20th win of the season but earned in a spot in the Quarterfinal round as well.

St. Stanislaus overcame a double digit deficit in the first half to pull out a 54-52 win over visiting Franklin County at Brother Peter Gymnasium.

However, it didn’t come easy.

The Rocks (20-6) seemed to be overwhelmed by the Bulldogs’ athleticism in the first period as they struggled to find consistency in their offense. 

Donovan Wilson and Derrion Wilson laid up the first two baskets for the Bulldogs as they took a 4-0 lead before Alan Gilliam responded for SSC with a bucket to cut the lead to 4-2. 

Donovan Wilson picked two more buckets as the Bulldogs (13-14) pushed the lead to 10-2 with 2:18 left in the opening frame. 

The Rocks went on a 9-4 run to close the first period down 14-11.

The Bulldogs opened the second period with an 8-0 run that broke open the game giving Franklin County a 22-11 lead before Daniel Grieves called a timeout. 

Whatever was said in the timeout, it lit the proverbial match under the Rocks as they came out with an 8-0 run highlighted by consecutive old-fashioned three-point plays by David Belle and Carter Macias that closed the gap to 22-19 with 3:18 left in the first half. 

Max Baria closed the half out for SSC, scoring the last seven points as intermission came with the Bulldogs holding a narrow 28-26 lead. 

In the third period, the two teams battled basket-for-basket with the Bulldogs holding a slim 40-39 lead going into the final frame. In the third period, the Bulldogs were paced by Derrion Wilson with six points while SSC was led by Baria with nine points including 5-for-5 at the line. 

In the fourth period, there were three ties before the Rocks finally claimed the game. Hunt gave the Bulldogs a 42-39 lead but Baria and Gilliam combined to knot the score at 42-42. Jason Forte gave the Rocks their first lead of the game with 6:18 left to play on a basket to make the score 44-42. 

Derrion Wilson scored five quick points for the Bulldogs to go up 47-44 but Baria knotted the score at 47-47 with a basket and a free throw with 4:53 left to play.

The Bulldogs got another three-ball and basket combo to push the score 52-47, but the Rocks closed the door with a 7-0 run to end the game and collect the win. 

Saint Stanislaus head coach Daniel Grieves commented, “First of all, Franklin County is one of the better organized teams in 3A and they play extremely hard for their coach. We got off to a slow start today and had to be methodical of taking it one possession at a time. We had a short bench today and the guys played a lot of minutes today. It took all of us to be on the same page to get the win today.”

Max Baria led the Rocks pouring in a game-high 28 points, followed by Carter Macias with 9 points and David Belle finished with 8 points.

Franklin County head coach Ricky O’Quinn stated, “We got into foul trouble throughout the game so it came down to us having to play some guys out of position. We have one senior graduating so we return a solid core group next year. We will be hungry to take the next step.”

Franklin County was led by Derrion Wilson with 13 points followed by Jaiden Hunt with 11 points and Donovan Wilson with 8 points. 

The Rocks finish the 2024-25 home season undefeated, capture a 20-win season, and collect a second round playoff win for the first time since 2011 when the Rocks won the Class 4A state championship. 

The Rocks will play McLaurin at Raymond High School on Thursday, February 20, in the third round of the Class 3A state playoffs.