By Stan Caldwell/Sports Writer

JACKSON — It has been 15 seasons since Daniel Grieves helped St. Stanislaus win its only state championship in basketball.

Now Grieves has a chance to win another title for the Rockachaws, this time as head coach at his alma mater.

St. Stanislaus got the better of a heavyweight battle Wednesday, knocking off defending state champion Booneville 49-41 in the Class 3A Final Four at Mississippi Coliseum.

The Rockachaws (30-4) will face Quitman at 4 p.m. Saturday in the 3A championship game. Booneville finished its season 22-5. The Blue Devils had won four straight state titles.

“In order to be the best, you have to play the best,” said Grieves. “Mike Smith does a great job with their program. We weren’t banking on upsets getting here. We were hoping we could see them, because it’s a great litmus test to see where we are as a program.

“Both teams laid it on the line tonight.”

With one important exception, the game stats were almost dead even. St. Stan converted 17 of 39 shots from the field (43.6 percent), while the Blue Devils were good on 17 of 38 (44.7), but neither team did much from 3-point range, each getting just one trey to fall.

Both teams finished with 26 rebounds, and both teams committed 13 turnovers. The difference came at the foul line. The Rocks shot 22 free throws and converted 14, including 7 of 12 in the final 1:20 of the game, while Booneville was just 6 of 16 from the line.

As usual, 6-foot-7 senior Max Baria drew the attention of the Booneville defense, and St. Stanislaus turned to junior guard Rafael Cohen to pick up the slack.

“We came into this game knowing it was going to be a tough one,” said Cohen. “We’ve been talking about this game since the season started. As a team, we’ve been prepping all year. With my teammates and our coaching staff, I think we’ve put a real good team together.

“We just did what we had to do, executed our game plan and won the game.”

Cohen led St. Stanislaus with 17 points, seven coming in the third quarter when he carried St. Stanislaus through a tough stretch.

“He’s been doing that all year,” said Grieves. “He’s been the beneficiary of Max Baria drawing so much attention inside. And we’ve got so many other guards who are capable of taking care of the basketball.

“(Booneville) did a good job of taking Max out of the game tonight, but Rafael is so strong, and he’s got such a high basketball IQ that it was fun to see him come out and play with fire and energy.”

The Blue Devils opened up an early 8-4 lead, but the Rocks went on a 8-0 run, grabbing the lead for good at 10-8 on a layup by junior Tre Schwandt. St. Stan led 14-10 after the first quarter and 24-19 at halftime, despite Booneville shooting 8 of 14 from the floor in the first half.

Booneville brought a big front line to the contest, led by 6-7 senior Camryn Hampton, who finished with 19 points and 9 rebounds for the Blue Devils. Sophomore Ashton Cook added 11 points, but nobody else had more than four points.

“We definitely had to adjust to their size,” said Baria, who had 10 points and 11 rebounds. “We drew up plays where we had to be physical with them, because they’re a physical team.

“They’re bigger than us and stronger than us, so we would jam them on screens, help out extra on the block and we really had to match their physicality.”

While the Blue Devils shot a worthy percentage from the field, they had to get what shots they could through the Rockachaws swarming interior defense.

“We have spent the whole year banking on full-court pressure, relentless pressure, attitudes and effort,” said Grieves. “We felt that if we could always do that on a game-by-game basis, whether the ball is going in the hoop or not, we’d still give ourselves a chance.”

Both teams’ only successful 3-point shot came on back-to-back possessions midway through the second quarter.

Cook swished a trey for Boonville to tie the game 17-17 with 4:14 to play before halftime, but Cohen responded at the other end with a 3-ball from the left side to put St. Stanislaus back in front, and the Rocks never trailed again.

“We had a great practice (Tuesday) and had a great walk-through this morning,” said Grieves. “You could feel the energy building inside them.”

St. Stanislaus twice opened up a seven-point lead early in the third quarter, but Hampton scored on a three-point play, then got a putback layup to close the margin to 28-26.

“Our defense all season has been great,” said Baria. “I think it comes down to us trusting each other. If one person helps on a double-team, another person is going to rotate to help on your man. We do a great job of communicating, and our energy is always hight.

“That’s how we win.”

But Cohen converted 1 of 2 foul shots, then drove the lane for a scoop shot to give St. Stanislaus a cushion.

“What I try to do is appear in the moments when it looks darker,” said Cohen. “I just bring the light to the tunnel and play as hard as I can. It took me a little bit to adjust to the game, but I started locking down on defense, and that got me going.”

Senior Alan Gilliam added 12 points for the Rockachaws, eight coming in the fourth quarter.

Quitman punched its ticket to the finals with a 46-42 victory over Ruleville in the other 3A semifinal.

“Win or lose, I love these guys, and they love me,” said Grieves. “It’s not about wins or losses. It’s playing for the person next to you, sacrificing and trying to help the people around you to create the kind of environment people want to be a part of.

“I tell them all the time that if you do what you’re supposed to do on the life side of things, the basketball will take care of itself.”