Region XIV Tournament MVP MJ Leslie.

When Trinity Valley suffered an 88-59 defeat to Panola on Feb. 15 in Carthage, it wasn’t expected that the two teams would meet again in the Region XIV Tournament Championship.

Panola and Lee were both 17-2 in the league and ranked No. 10 and No. 11 in the nation, respectively. That was supposed to be the tournament final.

Trinity Valley had different plans. The Cardinals inserted themselves into the championship game with a 73-65 win over top-seeded Lee in a game where they shot 11 of 23 from 3-point range. Panola cruised past Kilgore 72-44 to claim the other championship slot.

The Ponies got there with a margin similar to what Trinity Valley had seen twice already. Panola defeated the Cardinals 83-61 in the meeting on Jan. 21 in Athens.

“In the regular season, they beat us by (22 and 29),” Trinity Valley head coach Mark Leslie said. “We’re not that same team no more.

“And we went out and proved it.”

That they did.

Former Malakoff High School standout Klayton Copeland was fouled with 1.8 seconds remaining in overtime and made both free throws to give Trinity Valley the 76-74 lead. John Wilson’s last-second heave was no good, and the Cardinals were celebrating on Saturday night inside Wagstaff Gymnasium.

“It’s incredible,” Coach Leslie said. “To God be the glory. Those guys over there have been fighting since January when we got back from Christmas break.

“And honestly, we didn’t expect nothing less. Panola is a great team. We knew we could play great and lose. So we weren’t surprised when they ran back and got us, and we weren’t surprised when it went into overtime because that’s a great team.”

After watching the Trinity Valley women erase a 37-23 halftime deficit to rally for a 67-65 win over Blinn, which is ranked No. 3 in the nation, the Cardinals had their mind also set on an upset.

Trinity Valley came out firing. MJ Leslie hit four 3-pointers in the first 10 minutes as the Cardinals held a slim 18-16 lead. Less than two minutes after Leslie’s fourth triple, Aliou Cisse also connected from downtown. The Cardinals were 5 of 11 from three in the first 20 minutes and led 36-30 at halftime.

The Cardinals kept their lead for most of the second half and were up 62-56 with 5:54 to play following one of multiple floaters from Makhi Dorsey. Panola answered with an 8-2 run as SFA signee Chrishawn Christmas’ 3-point play tied the score at 64 with 3:44 to play.

The score was tied at 68 with less than two minutes left. MJ Leslie made a free throw for the Cardinals, and Christian Henry made one for the Ponies to put the score at 69 with 1:03 to play. Neither team scored the remainder of regulation to send the game to overtime tied at 69.

A Micah Clark field goal put Trinity Valley in front early in overtime. Panola got two free throws from Yaphet Moundi before Copeland going an offensive rebound and two free throws to put the Cardinals back in front.

Henry missed two free throws, and Christmas missed the putback attempt. Copeland got another offensive rebound and made two more free throws with 1:22 remaining to make the score 74-71.

Moundi scored inside and converted a 3-point play with 26 seconds on the clock to tie the score at 26.

Holding for the last shot, Trinity Valley’s MJ Leslie got the ball to Copeland on the baseline, and Copeland drove to the basket, where he drew the foul with 1.8 seconds left.

Copeland was 6 of 6 from the free-throw line in overtime and finished with 8 points and five rebounds.

“This feels great,” Copeland said. “Every day, I just came in knowing I needed to be consistent and it would all work out. I was just trying to do whatever I can, grabbing rebounds, knocking down free throws, getting offensive boards, just whatever I can do.”

Copeland went to Clarendon College after graduating from Malakoff High School. He returned closer to home this year as a walk-on at Trinity Valley.

“I just wanted to get back closer to home and back to family and still play at a high level of basketball,” Copeland said.

“Klay and about four of these guys came to us as walk-ons,” Coach Leslie said. “We literally played four walk-ons. And Klay didn’t play the first 20 or so games more than maybe about five minutes. But when his number was called at Navarro a few weeks ago, he had nine points in five minutes to close out the first half, and he has not looked back. I said OK fellas, we’ve got another player.”

A player the Cardinals knew what they had with all season was MJ Leslie, who had 23 points, eight rebounds and three steals to earn tournament MVP honors.

“Obviously, that’s my namesake,” Coach Leslie said. “I told him he saved his best for last, and it was big time. And he just said ‘I love you.’”

“We’ve dreamed about this,” MJ Leslie said. “It feels unreal for it to actually happen. But we both put in the work to get her, so it feels really good.”

Whenever things didn’t go the Cardinals’ way, they were unfazed.

“We’re resilient,” MJ Leslie said. “We’re a resilient team. We knew we would find a way. We trust each other. And we feel like we’re the best team when we trust each other and we play together.”

Dorsey finished with 17 points and six assists for the Cardinals (14-18). Mikah Clark had 12 points.

Trinity Valley didn’t make a field goal in overtime but was 7 of 8 from the foul line.

“I wasn’t worried,” said Copeland, who was 6 of 6 from the free-throw line in overtime. “In practice, we have to do a lot of running for shooting free throws, so I was used to it.”

Moundi had 20 points and eight rebounds for Panola (28-5). Henry had 19 points, three assists and three steals, and Christmas had 10 points and 13 rebounds.

Trinity Valley won its first Region XIV Tournament title since 2019. The Cardinals have qualified for the national tournament in Hutchinson, Kansas, in seven of the last 10 years.

The NJCAA announced on Sunday the Cardinals are No. 18 seed and will play No. 15 Vincennes (Indiana) (28-5) at 2 p.m. March 20. The winner advances to meet No. 2 Southern Idaho (29-1) at 6:30 p.m. March 21.

Trinity Valley has won six straight games and nine of 10 overall with the only loss coming to Panola in February.

Along with Malakoff’s Copeland, Brownsboro’s Tylor Johnson also plays for Trinity Valley. Matthew Scott, a 2005 graduate of Chapel Hill High School, is on the Trinity Valley coaching staff.