For the Monticello Billies to qualify for the 4A South Regional Tournament to be held in Warren, the Billie need to win two of their last three contests of the regular season and the Warren Lumberjacks to lose to Watson Chapel and Little Rock Mills.
If the Billies can win two of their final three games, they will move ahead of the Lumberjacks for the final spot in the tournament by a points advantage.
The first step would be to get past Crossett on Friday, February 10, at Dan Coston Fieldhouse.
Monticello would come out strong against the Eagles, outscoring Crossett 21-15 in the first quarter behind Tejon Tensley’s 10 first quarter point performance.
Monticello would hold a seven point advantage at the buzzer to end the first half of play, taking a 34-27 lead into the locker room.
Returning from the break, the Billies would put the contest out of reach in the third quarter, outscoring the Eagles 24-5 in the quarter and would outscore Crossett 13-9 in the fourth to take the 73-42 win to keep their postseason hopes alive.
Tejon Tensley led the Billies with 23 points followed by Quay Rhodes with 17, and Luke Jones with 13.
Jeremiah Daniels scored five, Tye Guthrie with four, and Dylon Shaw with three.
Jemar Matthews, Jagger Hines, Jontavion Lambert, and Jacorius Ridgell each scored two points.
Returning to Dan Coston Fieldhouse on Tuesday, February 14, hosting the number two ranked team in the 8-4A in Little Rock Mills, the Billie would need one more win to qualify for the Regional Tournament.
Mills would control the opening tip and would get on the board first before Luke Jones connected for a three to get the Billies on the board.
Each team would have their moments in the first quarter, but it would be Mills that would hold the slight edge, 19-17, at the end of the quarter.
Monticello would best the Comets by one point in the second quarter to trail Mills by one-point, 32-31, at the half.
The third quarter belonged to the Comets as Mills would outscore Monticello 19-4 in the quarter to take a 51-35 lead into the fourth quarter.
In the fourth, Mills would continue to lead the Billies extending the lead to as much as 27 points before outscoring Monticello 29-19 in the quarter to take an 80-54 victory.
Luke Jones and Tejon Tensley would lead the Billies in scoring with 13 points each.
Quay Rhodes would add 10 points followed by Jagger Hines and Jeremiah Daniels rounding out the scoring with nine points each.
With the loss to the Comets, the Billies fall to 9-16 overall and are 7-6 in the 8-4A.
Currently in conference, Watson Chapel leads the conference with an overall record of 23-7 and a 13-0 conference record.
Little Rock Mills is second with a record of 17-11 and 11-2.
Stuttgart ranks third with a record of 14-7, 8-5.
Warren sits in fourth with a record of 9-8 and 7-5.
Monticello is fifth with one final regular season contest to be played on Thursday, February 16, on the road against the Stuttgart Ricebirds.
Only the top four spots in the conference will qualify for the Regional Tournament with Monticello currently being a half game back of Warren for that fourth spot.
It comes down to the final game of the season against Stuttgart, who defeated the Billies at Monticello on January 24 by nine points, 77-68.
If Monticello defeats Stuttgart and Warren loses to Little Rock Mills, the Billies will hold the points advantage over the Lumberjacks and will qualify for the Regional.
A loss or a Lumberjack win will end the season.
