Ridgeland basketball wins first state title

Ridgeland earned their revenge over Olive Branch on Saturday night, putting together a 79-53 route in the MHSAA 6A state championship game, the first in program history.

After falling 59-56 to Olive Branch in last year’s championship game, Ridgeland has used the pain of that loss as motivation all season long. The Titans came out hungry and fired up for Saturday’s championship game and rode that fire and motivation to a dominant state championship win.

“It does feel a little sweeter to beat Olive Branch, but at the end of the day, they were just the team in front of us,” Ridgeland Head Coach Terron McIntyre said. “Just to get back here and finish the job is sweet.”

6A Mr. Basketball winner Phil Nelson is one of the senior leaders on this Ridgeland team and dealt with the pain of last year’s loss all season long. Nelson put together a phenomenal title game performance to propel the Titans to a championship win, scoring 26 points and winning MVP honors. 

“After the loss last season there was a lot of emotion, so coming into this season we said it was a revenge tour,” Nelson said. “We have a great group of guys, we never let the moment get too big, and we just stayed solid.”

Along with Nelson’s 26-point performance, Ridgeland also had multiple other players step up in a big way, with three other players scoring in double figures. All three of the other players who scored in double digits were juniors, with Ashton Manuel scoring 20 points, Khameron Snow scoring 10 points, and Marquis Williams scoring 10 points. 

Even with the massive scoring effort Ridgeland put forth, the Titans also put together a phenomenal defensive and rebound performance in the championship win. 

“I told our guys that we had to play with energy, play our style of basketball, and we had to defend,” McIntyre said. “I know we can score the basketball at any given time with the guys we have, but if we can stop somebody from scoring, then I know we will score enough points to win.”

Last year’s Ridgeland team laid the foundation for the Titans to get back to this point, allowed this team’s younger players to step up and play more key roles, and now get over the hump to deliver the first state title in program history.

“Losing last year was bittersweet because I knew this group would have a chance to get back here this year,” McIntyre said. “The group last year started things for us and really started a culture for us, now we can keep this thing going into the future.” 

Ridgeland finishes the 2024-2025 season with an astounding 30-4 record, even with playing one of the state’s toughest schedules. With four of their five starters coming back next year, the Titans will be primed to make another state title run in 2026.