Cameron Douglas didn’t want to settle.
The Columbus High School senior also wasn’t going to put his head down and take another loss, especially to archrival Starkville High, so as he listened to coach Luther Riley on Monday night before taking the court, Douglas promised himself he was going to play with more intensity and make an impact.
With Mississippi State men’s basketball coach Ben Howland and coaches from other state junior colleges, including East Mississippi Community College, on hand, Douglas made a case for why he is one of the state’s best guards. Douglas poured in a game-high 28 points Monday night to lead Columbus to a 70-47 victory against Starkville at the Falcons’ Nest.
“The first game, I don’t think we had enough intensity,” Douglas said. “This game we came out with a little fire in our stomach. We came out with a mind-set we were going to beat them on our home turf. We had a mind-set we weren’t going to let anybody come in and win on our home court.”
Javontae McDavid added 14 points and Robert Woodard Jr. added 13 points to help the Falcons avenge an 80-61 loss to the Yellow Jackets on Dec. 12, 2015, at the Bee Hive.
Starkville’s Tyson Carter scored 33 points in the first meeting, but Columbus double-teamed him and limited him to 14 points on a night — much like in the Columbus High girls team’s 49-41 victory — when Starkville players didn’t shoot well from the field.
Douglas set the tone in the first quarter, scoring his team’s first nine points and 13 of the 17 in the first eight minutes. He also played a key role in a 12-1 run in the second quarter that turned a four-point lead into a 15-point cushion. Douglas scored on a drive, assisted on a basket by Demetrice Clopton, scored on a back-door layup off a pass from Woodard Jr., and converted a three-point play on an offensive rebound to showcase the variety in his arsenal.
Douglas said he noticed Howland sitting courtside by the front entrance. He said he didn’t feel like he had anything to prove and just wanted to live up to confidence his coach has in him.
“Coach always says the team is only going to go as far as I bring them,” Douglas said. “That is a lot of weight on my shoulders. I will take that responsibility. If I am having a bad game, I can’t put my head down and feel bad. Then everybody is going to think it is OK to feel bad, so I have to keep my head up and play for the team.”
Douglas said he didn’t look for his shot and didn’t attack the basket in the first meeting against Starkville. Monday night was a reversal as he and Starkville’s Darrious Agnew (16 points) carried their teams in the first half. Both players hit an array of jump shots in attack mode in a competitive first 16 minutes.
“He played really well, especially in the first half,” Starkville coach Greg Carter said of Agnew. “We didn’t get it to him enough in the second half.
But Columbus pulled away thanks to a 13-1 run in the third quarter. Columbus had six players score in the spurt. Even though Douglas wasn’t one of them, Riley said the 6-foot-4, 175-pounder left his mark on the game.
“This is a guard’s game,” Riley said. “From day one when I saw Cameron Douglas play basketball, he has a skill set that only a few guys in the state have. He can dribble it, he can shoot it, he has a mid-range game, he can finish above the rim with both hands, he is a great kid, he is a great student. The only thing he had to do was put it out on the court. You have got SEC coaches in the gym, so what else do you want? You’re playing in front of a packed house. You’re playing against a great team in Starkville. How else do you want it? Rise to the occasion. Certainly he did that tonight.”
Riley hopes the victory is a step forward that shows the Falcons how they need to play to realize their goal of winning a championship. He said the team has battled inconsistency in the first part of the season, but he believes everything will come together.
“I think we made a step in the right direction tonight,” Riley said. “Once they start believing defending, making free throws, rebounding, and executing on offense is the way to get a championship, I think this team can be something to be reckoned with.”
Greg Carter said his team struggled offensively and didn’t have enough movement. He said the Yellow Jackets (14-2) have had games this season when they haven’t had a rhythm on offense. He said “impatience” contributed to his team standing around too much and not moving the ball as much as it needed to.
“We are a lot better (when we are passing the ball and sharing the ball),” Carter said. “We have played some good teams and won some good games and have played a lot better offensively, but there is a lot of basketball left to be played. We have some time to work on it.”
In the girls game, Zaria Jenkins had 16 points and Rokila Wallace added 15 as the Lady Falcons (8-4) avenged a 73-45 loss to the Lady Yellow Jackets in the first meeting.
Columbus utilized an attacking style of basketball in which nearly every shot it took was going to the basket. Columbus coach Yvonne Hairston said that was the team’s goal coming in after she felt it wasn’t ready for Starkville and several new players in the first encounter.
The Lady Falcons were prepared in the rematch, building as much as a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter before Wallace hit 4 of 4 free throws in the final minute to help seal the deal.
“We have played a hard schedule and a lot of good competition down in Jackson, so we were kind of ready and knew we had to be aggressive,” Hairston said. “Our schedule has allowed us to be more aggressive. That is a good thing. Our opponents are tougher and we have lost some games, but it has made us aggressive, so hopefully we can carry that on down the line.”
Kelsey Jones led Starkville (13-2) with 15 points, while Tabreea Gandy added 11.
“Tonight the rim was tight on us,” Starkville coach Kristie Williams said. “The layups we usually make, we just couldn’t buy a basket. It happens. Unfortunately, we kept it as close as we could,m but the easy shots we usually make we couldn’t buy tonight.”
n Pickens Academy splits with Southern Academy: At Greensboro, Alabama, Austin Goodman had 12 points and Nyc Gann had 10 points and 11 rebounds Monday night to lead the Pickens Academy boys basketball team to a 61-38 victory against Southern Academy.
Grady McGlawn had nine points and five rebounds for the Pirates.
In the girls game, Olivia Lewis had 18 points and Taylor Hickman had 11, but Pickens Academy lost 48-41.
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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