Without question, Charlie White has been a driving force behind Provine's first Boys State Tournament trip since 1999. With the Rams struggling in the first half against spirited Northeast Lauderdale in Monday's first-round Class 4A game, Provine turned to the junior point guard for help. White scored 11 of his 21 points in the third quarter as the Rams routed Northeast Lauderdale 66-41 at the Mississippi Coliseum before an estimated 650. Provine, ranked No. 5 in The Clarion-Ledger poll, advanced to 24-5. The Rams meet 10th-ranked Picayune, 31-2, in Friday's 8 p.m. semifinal. Northeast Lauderdale finished 22-13. Trailing by as many as 12 points in the first half, Provine got rolling in the third quarter. Rams coach Luther Riley moved Willicent Seymour to point guard and put the 5-foot-10 White on the high post to take advantage of White's quickness and penetrating ability. White scored 11 of Provine's first 13 points in the third period. Down 35-29 with 5 minutes left in the quarter, the Rams went on a 16-0 run for a 45-35 lead as Jeff Webb drained a 3-pointer with 4 seconds on the clock. Provine didn't let up in the fourth quarter. Jeremy Young's two-handed dunk off White's assist gave the Rams a 53-35 lead with 5:37 to play, capping bursts of 24-0 and 37-7. Young added 21 points and 9 rebounds and Webb had 11 points for Provine, seeking its first state title since winning 5A in 1998. "We came out sluggish," Riley said. "We weren't playing with any intensity in the first half. As bad as we were playing, we were still in the game. "We picked it up on our 1-2-2 zone press. Our shots weren't falling in the first half, but that's no excuse for not playing defense. "We needed some points, so we put Charlie at the high post. We felt he could penetrate, and Charlie got our rhythm going. "We had to take Charlie off the ball. We put Jeff and Jeremy on the block, so Charlie would dish it off if they picked him up." White wrote off Provine's slow start to Coliseum jitters. "It's everybody's first time out here," said White, who also had five steals and three assists. "We played a little scared at first. We had to adjust to playing in here. In the second half, we picked up our intensity. "In the first half, I don't know what we were doing. I knew we weren't going to lose, but we had to play harder and fight back." Marcus Betts topped Northeast Lauderdale with 13 points, followed by DeKenno Winston with 12 and Kalani White with 11. During Provine's second-half surge, the Trojans went without a field goal for almost 10 minutes. "Provine's pressure defense got us out of what we wanted to do," said Northeast Lauderdale coach Lewis Lightsey, whose team overcame a 6-9 start this season and eliminated No. 4 Mendenhall in the division playoffs. "The first half was played at a slower pace. We were able to play a 2-3 zone, slow it down, handle their pressure and go to the free-throw line. In the second half, they moved to fullcourt pressure and that took us out of everything."

Provine can play fast-break basketball with anybody, a situation Picayune wanted no part of Friday night in the Class 4A Boys State Tournament. But the Rams showed they're pretty darn good in their halfcourt offense as well, and that versatility has carried them to a state championship game. Junior point guard Charlie White scored 19 points as Provine outlasted Picayune 44-37 in the 4A semifinals at the Mississippi Coliseum before an estimated 2,800. Provine, ranked No. 5 in The Clarion-Ledger poll, advanced to 25-5. The Rams play either No. 1 and defending 4A state champion Lanier or sixth-ranked St. Stanislaus for the 4A title at 8 p.m. Thursday. Tenth-ranked Picayune, last year's 4A runner-up, finished 31-3 with its first Mississippi loss as the Maroon Tide lost a 20-game winning streak. White tallied 10 second-half points, including six in the fourth quarter when Provine opened up a 14-point lead, 41-27, on Jeff Webb's one-handed dunk off Willicent Seymour's feed with 2 minutes, 54 seconds remaining. Picayune didn't quit, cutting its deficit to 42-37 on Terrance Robinson's free throw with 42.1 seconds left, but the Maroon Tide got no closer. Jeremy Young added 13 points for Provine, which is in its first state final since 1999 and seeks to claim its first state title since winning 5A in 1998. "We like to run, but any good team has to be able to play a halfcourt game, especially this time of year," Provine coach Luther Riley said. "We knew we had a lot of mismatches. At times, we had five guards out there, and a lot of our guards are big, so we had some advantages. "In the fourth quarter, we spread the floor, made them come out and guard us and tried to get some layups." White said the Rams simply took advantage of those mismatches. "We started four guards � myself, Willicent, Jeff and Jeremy," White said. "When we run our 5-game, they had a big boy on one of them, and neither one of those guys could guard them." Senior point guard Earl Fortenberry tossed in 16 points for Picayune. "We had to keep it close. If we kept it close, we'd have a chance at the end," Maroon Tide coach Dean Shaw said. "We didn't want to run with them, absolutely not. Player for player, Provine is much better than us. I'm not taking anything away from my kids, but Provine goes 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 and then they have a very good point guard. Provine is a very good high school basketball team. They've got some great players. "We got off to a slow start. We just didn't shoot the ball very well. Against a team like Provine, you've got to get ahead. You can't fall behind, because they're so good offensively. "We were down five and had some looks at 3-pointers at the end, and they rimmed out. But these guys played with a lot of heart all year."

Ellis, a 6-3 Dandy Dozen sophomore, was brilliant in defeat, finishing with 35 points and five 3-pointers for Lanier, 31-4 and ranked 17th nationally by USA Today, as the Bulldogs were denied their 14th state title and sixth under veteran coach Thomas Billups. Williams' dramatic put-back came after Ellis tied the score at 62-62 on a jumper with 24.5 seconds to play. Following a Provine timeout with 18.3 seconds left, White drove the lane and missed, but Williams was there to stick it in the basket. For 31-plus minutes, superb guards Monta Ellis of Lanier and Charlie White of Provine dazzled a sellout crowd of 8,000 in Thursday night's Class 4A Boys State Tournament championship game matching fierce Jackson Public Schools rivals. In the end, however, it was a simple offensive rebound by neither Ellis nor White that catapulted Provine to a state title. Jarvis Williams' rebound basket with 5.6 seconds remaining lifted the Rams to a thrilling 64-62 victory over No. 1-ranked and defending 4A state champion Lanier at the Mississippi Coliseum. White, a 5-foot-10 junior, scored 23 points to power fifth-ranked Provine, 26-5, to its second state crown and first since the Rams won 5A in 1998. "We knew everybody was trying to contain Charlie, and we told the other guys to be ready to catch the ball," said fourth-year Provine coach Luther Riley, who won his first state title. "Jarvis was lucky to get the offensive rebound. Everybody was focused on Charlie." Ellis and White took turns entertaining a capacity audience while thousands more were turned away outside the Big House. Ellis scored 21 second-half points, but it wasn't enough for the Bulldogs, who won the season series 3-2 but lost the war with the Rams. "Monta played his butt off," said Billups, who coached in his ninth state final. "He didn't have anybody to help him. We acted like we didn't know how to play. The difference in the game? Provine had five players and we had one, Monta Ellis. Our other guys didn't show up. We played good defense, but Monta was the only guy doing anything offensively. "It's real disappointing in that our guys didn't come to play with Monta." Riley withheld judgment on White's talents during the season, but no more. "Charlie White is the best point guard in the state of Mississippi," Riley said. "He showed character, heart and leadership all year." Riley conceded his Rams � who got 18 points from senior guard Jeff Webb � could do nothing with Ellis. "Monta's a big-time player, and big-time players step up," Riley said. "We doubled him and he still made buckets." White said Provine kept concentrating on slowing the rest of the Bulldogs. "Monta was in a rhythm and we couldn't stop him," White said. Don't be surprised if these two hoops powers play for the gold ball in 4A next year. For now, White and the Rams will savor this one. "I love it," White said.