STARKVILLE — The up and down style of Canton was just what the Starkville High School boys basketball team wanted to see Friday night.
The Yellow Jackets squad proved they can run that system of offense better than Canton and possibly anybody in Class 5A basketball in Mississippi as they used open court dunks and three-point field goals to a 74-56 victory in region play.
Starkville’s defensive effort and ability to hold the Tigers (6-14, 0-4 in region play) to one shot per possession was key to allowing the open court break to be utilized more to the Yellow Jackets liking.
“We wanted to make a special effort to get out and run,” Starkville coach Greg Carter said. “We missed some layups and opportunities in transition. In the second half, we just capitalized on everything.”
Starkville (16-3, 3-1) held Canton to just 16 points in the first half and the Tigers couldn’t even match the shooting of SHS guard Jacoby Mobley as the senior led all players with 17 points in the first 16 minutes of play. Mobley would finish the evening with a game-high 27 points.
The Yellow Jackets dominated the paint with Mississippi State signee Gavin Ware as the 6-foot-8 presence had 20 points and was able to affect several shots coming off dribble penetration by Canton guards.
“We defended with a lot of energy and I thought our guards did a great job of helping us on the boards,” Carter said. “When they get the defensive rebound, it so easy to start the break and have the advantage going the other way.”
Canton was paced by the 14-point efforts of Rakeem Esco and DeVandrel Carson.
In the matter of a week, Starkville has seen the slow-down tempo of Yazoo City and the running styles of Aberdeen and Canton. Carter mentioned Friday night how these experiences will benefit the Yellow Jackets as they look toward the state playoffs and a run at the Class 5A state championship title.
“We’re trying to match our offensive execution with the fact that they changed defenses on us,” Carter said. “They played a diamond and one and that’s the first time we’d seen that all year. It’s a slow process but we’re getting better.”
Canton girls 82,Starkville
Starkville girls basketball coach Kristie Williams simply wasn’t happy with the effort Friday night in a revenge she thought her team would capitalize on holding a lead late.
The Lady Jackets (9-9, 1-3 in region play) held a five-point lead going into the final quarter and their defense allowed Canton to score 30 points in the final eight minutes of play to take home a key road win in region play.
“We’re down 13 at one point and came back to lead by five and I’m thinking ‘we’ve got this right where we want it’,” Williams said.
“Once they turned up the tempo to what they were doing then we bowed down to their will and that’s so frustrating.”
The Lady Tigers got major offensive production from Ashley Banks, game-high 30 points, and 20 points from Sellesia Travis. The one-two punch from Canton was not what Williams believed put her squad on the wrong end of the win/loss column.
“I’m not going to say that two players caused us to lose this game when their were so many mental errors on our play that led to our downfall,” Williams said. “We just didn’t take care of the basketball and that did us in.”
Starkville, who was down seven at half but rallied to take the lead early in the third quarter, was led by Brittany Brown’s 21-point effort. The loss puts the Lady Jackets at 1-3 in region play this season and leaves them in must-win territory with their final two league games still left on their schedule.
“We’ve got to take care of business now with Yazoo and Neshoba here at home,” Williams said. “When you think about the fact that we lost (to Canton) by one at their gym but then lose by 15 in our place, that’s not a good bounce back factor at all.”
n Columbus sweeps South Panola: Columbus High took a pair of district basketball games from homestanding South Panola Friday night.
The Lady Falcons took a 61-56 victory, while the Falcons followed with a 48-45 win.
“It was really a hard-fought game,” Columbus girls coach Yvonne Hairston said. “We were down 10 or 12 points in the second quarter and did a really good job of fighting back.”
Kiandria Patterson led Columbus (17-2 overall, 6-0 district) with 32 points, while Maggie Proffitt added 16 points.
“We had 20 points at the half and did a much better job of getting better shots in the second half,” Hairston said.
The Columbus boys (10-10, 4-2) were led by 21 points from Deontae Jones.
Elsewhere in the area, Louisville and Caledonia split two games with the Louisville girls winning 58-44 and the Caledonia boys taking an 81-75 decision in overtime.
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