STARKVILLE — Starkville High School senior Josh Skinner breaks down the formula for the boys basketball team’s success at home this season as a three-step process.
“It starts with being excited and ready at the tip,” Skinner said. “Then all five guys on the floor play some great defense. Everybody is active and we get some easy steals and get the other team rattled a little bit.”
The third element isn’t an automatic but certainly helps.
“When Ralph (Leonard) dunks the ball like he did tonight, it gets everybody in the whole gym standing up and cheering,” Skinner said. “When that happens, everybody on the team gets excited and it’s like we go to another level. It’s a big spark.”
Starkville reached that level Friday night as it routed Madison Central 78-53 in the championship game of the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 6A, Region 3 tournament.
Starkville improved to 22-5 and 13-0 at home. The good news for the Yellow Jackets is that the path to a Class 6A state championship will start at home Saturday night when they play host to the winner of a first-round game from Tuesday night.
“This win here was huge,” Starkville coach Greg Carter said. “Under the new format, there is a bye and that means everything. That is how a basketball tournament should work. You reward the No. 1 team. We had to work awfully hard to be that No. 1 team. Now it’s one less game we have to play to get to Jackson.”
Under the new playoff format for Classes 5A and 6A, region tournament champions receive a first-round bye. Starkville can advance to the Class 6A quarterfinals at Jackson State by winning one game Saturday at home.
“This team is really motivated to get to Jackson,” Starkville junior Keith Harris said. “We have been working hard to get to this point. That is why this tournament really meant a lot to us. We tried to come out and start really strong. We knew that would be the key to victory.”
Starkville started strong in both of its region tournament victories. On Tuesday night, Starkville built a 17-2 lead, withstood a rally, and beat Columbus 62-49. On Friday night, no such rally took place.
Starkville scored the first five points, built a 10-2 lead on a Leonard dunk, and led 17-5 after one quarter of play. From there, the Yellow Jackets cruised.
“We were ready from the jump,” Carter said. “We played aggressive both games from the tip, and I think that made a big difference. We were not just aggressive on offense but we were also aggressive on defense. Tonight, we kept defending and defending and defending. (Madison Central) got to a point where they felt like nothing they were doing was working.”
Madison Central shook up the region race by taking a 59-52 win Jan. 23 at home. Two weeks later, Starkville returned the favor with a 71-58 win. Still, the Jaguars entered the region tournament as the top seed.
“It was all about energy,” Skinner said. “It’s hard to explain what happened the first time. Coach told us to play defense and never slack up on them. Madison Central has a couple of really good shooters, so we couldn’t let them get going.”
“We feed off each other and playing at home was really huge. When we get running in transition, we are pretty good.”
The buzz word was defense when the team took the court.
“We came out with a spark,” Harris said. “Defend and rebound. When we leave the locker room, that is the goal. If we do those two things well then everything else is going to fall into place. It’s great to play at home. That really gave us a spark tonight.”
Carter has built his program into one of the best in Class 5A and 6A. The cornerstone has been a tenacious, physical defense that helps keep the team afloat on nights when it is outmanned from a size standpoint.
“It’s been that way my whole career here,” Carter said. “We kept pushing and pushing and pushing. Our play in transition was outstanding. We got some easy baskets. That is how you keep separation by getting that stop during a run. Not only do you get that stop you score on the other end with it.”
Starkville placed six players in double figures. Leonard led the way with 14 points, followed by Tyson Carter (13), Harris (11), Skinner (11), and Jesse Little (10). Jamal Williams had eight of his 10 points in a 27-point third quarter that helped Starkville expand a 31-16 halftime lead.
Leroy Buchanan (13 points) led Madison Central (14-9). Shaun Buchanan added 11.
In the third-place game, the Columbus boys defeated Northwest Rankin 72-41. With the win, the Falcons advance to the Class 6A playoffs and will play Tuesday on the road in a first-round game.
After falling victim to a fast start by the opposing team, Columbus (21-6) reversed the script and benefited from a quick start en route to a dominating performance.
“It is bittersweet (to advance), but we will take it,” Columbus coach Sammy Smith said. “We came out in the first round and didn’t do things right. Now we have get the guys to play angry (in the playoffs) because they should have (been in the region tournament final). If we play angry, we will be fine. The season is not over. We have to come out and play well (Tuesday night).”
Columbus played without junior Chris Deloach, who was ejected in the closing minutes of the loss to Starkville. In his place junior Demetrice Clopton had 17 points.
“Clopton had been hurt,” Smith said. “We hadn’t had him for about three weeks, so we really didn’t want him to play that many minutes. But he responded and played really well. We needed him. We needed a lift inside and he gave us that.”
Freshman Robert Woodard led the Falcons with 22 points.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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