WEST POINT — West Point High School boys basketball coach Brad Cox knew little about A.J. McFarland’s ability to fit in with his basketball team when he arrived on the school’s campus in August.
McFarland’s father had played at West Point and his family still had ties to the area. However, finding a fit for the 5-foot-10 senior point guard was going to be a work in progress for the transfer from Ridgeland High.
Turns out, McFarland has grabbed the leadership role and the Green Wave have followed quite nicely.
After losing its first eight games, West Point has taken the long road back to .500 with eight-straight victories. More importantly, West Point is 2-0 in Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 5A, Region 2 thanks to victories against Saltillo and Oxford last week.
McFarland scored 27 points in the 57-56 victory against Saltillo, 18 in a 62-52 victory against Oxford, and 30 in a 75-62 non-region victory against Aberdeen.
For his efforts, McFarland is The Dispatch’s Prep Player of the Week.
“He is our leader on and off the court,” Cox said. “We have several seniors who play key roles. We have one leader. A.J. came to us right before school started, so there was an apprehension for him to step up and be the leader. Once he realized his teammates were ready to follow his lead, this team really took off.”
West Point opened with arguably the state’s most difficult pre-New Year schedule. Cox is a big believer in summer league basketball. Due to injury and the McFarland transfer, the Green Wave played the bulk of their summer schedule without three starters.
After finishing 16-16 last season, the team had to get healthy and learn how to play together.
“I never would have dreamed it would have taken eight games,” Cox said. “A.J. wasn’t going to let this team down, though. He kept pushing when it the darkest. Other coaches complimented us and said we would get there. I am really proud of how hard they worked. The season could have gone the other way.”
McFarland said a team approach has been essential to the turnaround. While acknowledging he has had the “hot hand” recently, McFarland said “any of the guys on this team are capable of leading us in scoring.” He also relishes the fact that he feels a lot of teams are taking West Point lightly because of how it started the season.
“Our communication is so much better now (than when the season started),” McFarland said. “We just hadn’t been out there together as a group and it showed. Austin Crowley is starting and he is a freshman. He was averaging 30 points per game in middle school. He gets up here and realizes he doesn’t have to do it all anymore. Kelly (Martin) and Jaquavis (Brownlee) had injuries. They had to come back and realize they could play again at full speed.”
West Point battled back from a double-digit halftime deficit to beat Saltillo and a nine-point third-quarter deficit to beat Oxford.
“A lot of teams think they can come in and roll over us,” McFarland said. “We keep working hard throughout the game, throughout the season. We have learned from our adversity. We have been able to sneak up on some people because they have let their guard down against us.”
Cox said the team re-committed itself on defense after the early struggles. West Point has always thrived on an up-tempo offense with full-court pressure.
“Ridgeland plays a slow, deliberate pace and we are the exact opposite,” Cox said. “The biggest challenge for us during the offseason was to get A.J. used to the different style of play. Your point guard has to run the offense. If you haven’t been in our system and haven’t seen our offense, it takes a little while to adjust.
“He didn’t back down from the challenge. He accepted it. The other guys already knew our expectation. It was a matter of putting it together as a unit.”
While McFarland was learning his teammates, he took some great advice from a former West Point player, even though the two didn’t suit up together. Current East Mississippi Community player Ecurb Forest was a regular at his old gym in the preseason.
“Ecurb became like a big brother to me,” McFarland said. “He gave me the best advice possible. He said as a senior, you have to go out there and give it your all. He told me to give it everything I have for every game this season.
“He said once it is over, you will want one more game, so make sure you play as well as you can and as hard as you can to make sure your last game does not come too quickly.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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