Cooter

The boy’s basketball season may have ended for all MSHSAA Class 2 programs, however, the postseason recognition has just begun for Cooter High School senior Luke Barnes.

As the final horn sounded Saturday on the 2022-23 MHSAA boy’s basketball season, veteran Cooter High School coach David Mathis voiced his willingness, though painful, to move from the historic season that his team had just finished a week prior in its controversial Class 2 quarterfinal overtime loss to eventual state runner-up, Principia.

The recent MSHSAA Class 2 Quarterfinal 1 boy’s basketball game between Cooter High School and The Principia School ended five days ago, but veteran Wildcat coach David Mathis is still holding his court board (figuratively) and trying to figure out how to get his team to advance to Friday’s state finals in Springfield.

There are a lot of things that the student-athletes who competed in the recent MSHSAA Class 2 Quarterfinal 1 boy’s basketball game between Cooter High School and The Principia School can learn. However, no lesson should resonate more so than, in life: Watch what people do, not what they say.

Summersville and Cooter High Schools are nearly three hours apart, so from a basketball perspective, the two Wildcat programs more than likely don’t have much familiarity with each other, so here is a quick tutorial for the ‘Cats from Texas County:

HOLCOMB – With a near-constant ear splitting roar in a completely full Holcomb High School gym, the first-seeded Cooter Wildcats “turned it on” in the second half to defeat third-seeded Neelyville in the Class 2 District 1 championship game Friday, Feb. 24, 2023...

HOLCOMB – The Cooter Wildcats proved that they’re the No. 1 seed for a good reason in the MSHSAA Class 2 District 1 tournament semifinals Wednesday night. Cooter downed fourth-seeded South Pemiscot, who beat fifth-seeded Holcomb on the Hornets’ own court by 21 points Monday, in a 60-32 rout to earn their place across from Neelyville Friday night in the district championship...

With the Cooter High School boy’s basketball squad being the top seed in Wednesday’s MSHSAA Class 2 District 1 semifinals, the Wildcats are expected to advance to the championship game on Friday after beating No. 4-seed South Pemiscot. However, history shows that this “rivalry,” as veteran Cooter coach David Mathis said of facing the Bulldogs, has been dominated by South Pemiscot, not Cooter.

The Cooter High School boy’s basketball program just completed the second-most successful regular season in Wildcat history, and it is the top seed in the MSHSAA Class 2 District 1 Tournament, which gets underway tonight at Holcomb High School. However, Cooter coach David Mathis is fully aware that having a great regular season – and without question, the Wildcats were great this year – won’t help Cooter (23-3) in any way come Wednesday at 6 p.m. when the Wildcats will open the postseason facing the winner of No. 4-seed South Pemiscot (14-12) and Holcomb (13-12).

COOTER – First-seeded Cooter may have been a bit surprised by what second-seeded Holcomb brought to the table Wednesday night in the Tri-County Conference Tournament championship game, but the Wildcats held on and made some adjustments to win another championship title 74-66 on their home court...

COOTER – Cooter, Risco, Holcomb and Delta C-7 all advanced as the higher seeds in the opening round of the Tri-County Conference Tournament Monday night. While the field is wide open right now, it's going to be a battle for the next two nights with plenty of parity between each team left in contention for the conference title...

The Tri-County Conference Tournament is nearly upon us once again, and this year there is sure to be plenty of close competition. While the bracket hasn't yet been decided, each and every team in contention, including Clarkton, Cooter, Delta C-7, Gideon, Holcomb, North Pemiscot, Risco and Southland, will have to fight ruthlessly to stay in the tournament every night...

The Portageville High School boy’s basketball squad got itself back on the right track with its eight-point road win at Hayti on Tuesday. The victory snapped a three-game losing skid for the Bulldogs (10-9), who face as difficult test as any this season in tonight’s road battle at Class 2 No. 10-ranked Cooter (17-1) at 6 p.m.

ELLINGTON — Thursday was a good night for the top two boys seeds at the Black River League Tournament. The top-seeded South Iron Panthers turned back host Ellington 67-48 in the early semifinal Thursday, then No. 2 Bunker defeated East Carter 66-41 in the late game...