STARKVILLE — Greg Carter never lost faith.
The Starkville High School boys basketball coach saw his team fall behind Madison Central by 15 points in the third quarter, but there was no panic from the veteran coach. Instead, he challenged his players.
Starkville responded in the final quarter and pulled out a 57-56 victory on Monday night in a Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 6A, Region 3 game.
“I knew we could play better than we were playing,” Carter said. “We got down double digits in that third quarter because we just weren’t playing very well. We weren’t defending the way that we needed to, didn’t rebound the way we needed to, and weren’t finishing plays. The third quarter was awful, awful all the way around.”
Junior Jesse Little (13 points) rebounded a Keith Harris (11) miss and scored with two hands as time expired to give the Yellow Jackets (17-4, 3-1 region) the victory. Starkville took a 55-54 lead with 12 seconds left when Harris made a 3-pointer in the right corner with a hand in his face. It didn’t last long as Blake Long made two free throws to give the Jaguars (11-8, 1-2) the lead with 5.5 seconds left.
Harris took the inbounds pass and ran all the way down the court and got a good look at the rim, but it bounced off. Little said he knew there was a chance Harris was going to miss and didn’t want to quit on the play, so he put himself in position to make a play.
The Jackets trailed 44-29 late in the third quarter and 44-31 entering the fourth quarter. Carter let his players know what needed to happen for them to win.
“He was just telling us we had to pick it up,” Little said. “We played bad for three quarters, but we were still in the game, so we knew we still had a good chance to win.”
Starkville outscored Madison Central 26-12 in the final quarter.
Trailing 46-36 early in the final quarter, Starkville began its comeback. It ended the game on a 21-10 run.
Senior guard Tyson Carter provided a critical boost in the fourth quarter, scoring 15 of his game-high 23 points. He scored 12-straight points midway through the frame to pull the Jackets to within 54-52 with 1 minute, 18 seconds remaining. Nine of his 15 points in the quarter came from the free-throw line.
Coach Carter said this is probably the first time Tyson has scored that many points and only made one 3-pointer.
“I thought it was real big,” coach Carter said. “He started playing to the basket more and he was more aggressive off the dribble.”
Shunn Buchanan (11 points) guarded Carter, a Mississippi State signee, for most of the game. But Carter found a crease in the final quarter and decided to attack the rim.
Tyson said his father told the Yellow Jackets they had eight minutes to pull off something miraculous in the fourth quarter. He said that’s when he decided to do something about it.
“I just felt like I didn’t play that good in the first three quarters,” Tyson said. “I knew in the fourth quarter I had to step up and play good.”
Tyson said a Harris one-handed dunk to begin the quarter lit a fire under the rest of the team.
Michael Hammond and Javion Jordan paced Madison Central, which led 27-22 at halftime, with 16 points.
Starkville suffered its first district loss Jan. 15 at Callaway and Tyson said they needed something good to happen.
“It’s a big confidence booster because we were on a two-game losing streak coming into the game,” Tyson said. “We knew (Monday night) was kind of a must win type situation.”
The reigning Class 6A State champions are in good position to make another deep run into the playoffs, but it hasn’t been easy for coach Carter the last few weeks. He hopes his team’s effort Monday provides a spark.
“We haven’t played well the last couple of weeks, and I don’t know what it is,” coach Carter said. “We’ve been trying a lot of different things in practice, trying different players. We’ve got to figure it out before long because we don’t have much time left.”
n In the girls game, Kelsey Jones had 13 points and 10 rebounds to lead Starkville to a 57-37 victory.
Starkville (16-2, 4-0) led 14-10 after the first quarter, but turned on the defense in the second quarter and outscored Madison Central (8-12, 1-2) 13-2 to take a 27-12 halftime lead.
“I think we played well with our full-court pressure into our half-court man-to-man,” Starkville coach Kristie Williams said. “After having a break from playing, it’s kind of hard to get back up and get into a rhythm. I think we came out as well as I thought we could have and I’m pleased with our effort.”
The Lady Yellow Jackets led 38-23 after the third quarter and outscored the Lady Jaguars 19-14 in the final quarter.
Tanita Thompson added 13 points for Starkville. Tabreea Gandy had 12.
Williams likes the fact that the Lady Jackets are in first place in the district, but she doesn’t want her team to become complacent.
“We’ve been drilling them hard and letting them know that this is the time of the season where everything has to be on point,” Williams said.
Starkville will take on West Point at 6 p.m. today in a girls-boys doubleheader.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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