STARKVILLE — Basketball fans saw Saturday night what Starkville High School boys basketball coach Greg Carter has been seeing from Jesse Little every day in practice.
Little, a 6-foot-9 sophomore center, scored 14 points and pulled down 10 rebounds in a 52-33 victory against Restoration (Ala.) High in the final game of the Travis Outlaw Slam Dunk at the Hump at Mississippi State’s Humphrey Coliseum.
“I am playing with confidence,” Little said. “My teammates know I am doing a pretty good job of scoring, so they are finding me more. I just wanted to help the team win tonight. We really dominated in the paint, and that got our offense going.”
Carter said Little has worked hard in practice and made great strides in the past two or three weeks. As playing time has increased so has the presence of Little in Starkville’s game plan. He and Raphael Leonard gave Starkville a lethal 1-2 combination against an opponent that lacked size.
“Jesse has really played well the last couple of weeks,” Carter said. “We have shot the ball well outside all season. Now we are beginning to develop that post presence we need. We did everything tonight we wanted to do last night (in a 75-72 overtime loss to Southwind (Tenn.).
“The main thing is the rebounding. We rebounded the ball much better — like night and day difference. If we rebound the ball, we will be OK because we are going to guard hard and we are going to make enough shots most nights.”
Starkville built a 17-6 lead after one quarter. Little had six points and four rebounds in the quarter. Leonard also announced his presence with a rim-rattling dunk.
The Yellow Jackets had a similar start Friday, building a nine-point lead against Southwind. Saturday proved to be different, as Starkville was rarely challenged the rest of the way.
“I thought we played a whole lot harder in this game,” Starkville senior Josh Skinner said. “We let up when we got the big lead in the first game. If we rebound and guard hard on defense, we are a tough team to beat. We are really a young team that is still learning how to play hard for four quarters.
“This game was good because the big men really took over down low. We are a different team when we get that kind of play down low.”
A 3-pointer by Skinner as the first half expired gave the Yellow Jackets a 28-16 halftime lead.
A 3-pointer by Tyson Carter extended the lead to 13 points midway through the third quarter. Carter had 28 points against Southwind.
Little hit four-straight free throws to push the lead to 17 points late in the third quarter.
Starkville allowed six points in the fourth quarter.
“Our defensive effort was really good,” Little said. “We played good defense in the first game, too, but we didn’t block our or rebound. We got beat on the second chances we gave them. Tonight, we were determined to hold them to one shot.”
Skinner added 12 points for Starkville (9-3).
Restoration (6-3) received 10 points from senior Demarcus Davis.
“This tournament will be real good for us,” Skinner said. “I think we learned a lot from playing these types of games. The experience will help us in January and February because we want to win the region championship and make the playoffs.”
Carter also is eager to see his team develop.
“We played back-to-back nights for the second time this season,” Carter said. “It didn’t work out well the first time around. This time we played hard and competed for two nights in a row, and that’s a plus. We have a long way to go, but the kids know what we are trying to do. When we have the balance and rebounding effort we had tonight, we have a chance to be competitive almost every night.”
Follow Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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