WEST POINT — Starkville High School junior Blake Rogers enjoyed the game that he and his teammates played Thursday night.
“That was a lot of fun,” Rogers said. “When the game was out of hand, and it turned into a dunk contest, well that was fun. Basketball is always fun, but we don’t have many moments like that on the court. We usually have to play hard for four quarters. To be able to have a little extra fun and create some plays, well I enjoyed that a lot.”
On the first three possessions of the fourth quarter, Starkville attempted two dunks and West Point attempted one. Starkville made both, while West Point missed.
That string of play summed up Starkville’s 76-62 win at the West Point Gym.
In the fourth quarter alone, Starkville’s 6-foot-6 senior forward Markedric Bell had six dunk attempts, making five and having one blocked.
“I guess I need to work on my dunking game more,” Bell said. “It’s a shot you never miss. It was kind of strange when all of that dunking started happening. We had some easy possessions and we just tried to have a little fun on the court.”
Starkville (4-1) has had fun all week. After losing to No. 1 Meridian last Tuesday at home, the Yellow Jackets have followed with three straight victories. Thursday’s win came less than 48 hours after a 56-51 upset of fourth-ranked Columbus. The team plays again Saturday against Choctaw Central at Neshoba Central.
“This has been like a rivalry week for us,” Rogers said. “The Columbus win was really big. It gave us a lot of confidence. It kind of changed the season back around for us. After that, we knew we had to come out here and start fast. West Point can score a lot of points and it was another rivalry game for us. The fast start was important.”
Starkville did start fast with a 7-0 run to build a 12-4 lead, a 4-0 run to build a 16-8 lead and a 10-0 run to build a 26-10 lead. The Yellow Jackets had four different player hit a 3-pointer during that initial stretch.
While the Yellow Jackets were sizzling on the offensive end, the defensive pressure caught the attention of coach Greg Carter.
“It was our best stretch of defensive play this season,” Carter said. “We got into the lanes and got some turnovers. We hit some of the 3’s out of transition. When you can get good looks out of transition, you are doing your part.”
Starkville was also using its size advantage to dominate the boards. The first-half lead grew to as many as 19 but was 15 (32-17 ) at halftime.
“I think the Columbus win really helped us,” Bell said. “We knew this was going to be a challenging week. The team has really grown up a lot in the past week. It has happened in practice. The coaches are really stressing defense the way they want it to be played. The 3-pointers are nice and the dunks are fine but we had to get back to our identity of playing really great defense. That is what we did last season.”
Starkville ran the lead to 23 points before a furious fourth-quarter rally led by West Point sophomore Austin Crowley. Crowley had 17 of his team’s final 19 points and finished with a game-high 36 points. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Crowley had the hosts within 70-60 with two minutes left.
“We played hard for four quarters and that is my biggest takeaway from this game,” West Point coach Brad Cox said. “We had some stretches in past games where we had a letdown and lost our focus. We stayed with it and competed for four quarters. The effort tonight can win some games on down the road.”
Carter said his team again took “baby steps” Thursday night. However, he said he was proud that the team responded twice when West Point changed defenses.
“That is something we didn’t handle at all against Meridian,” Carter said. “When the opponent, changes something, we have a hard time adapting. Tonight, we adapted to two or three changes. That is a sign that you have grown up a little bit.”
Jesse Little led Starkville with 16 points and 12 rebounds. Darrious Agnew added 14 points and 10 rebounds, while Bell had 15 points and Rogers had 13 points with seven assists.
Shaunderrius Westbrook added 10 points for West Point (0-4).
Starkville girls 56, West Point 38: In the opener, the third-ranked Lady Jackets improved to 5-0.
Starkville led 20-17 at halftime before opening the second half on a 12-2 run.
“Our defensive intensity was really good for four quarters,” Starkville coach Kristie Williams said. “In the first half, we simply couldn’t score. We were fortunate that we had the lead but that was because of our effort on the defensive end. The shots weren’t falling. In the second half, they started falling and the defense kept doing what it had been doing. That is why it was a really good win.”
Starkville received 23 points from Kelsey Jones, as well as 11 points each from Tabreea Gandy and Jariyah Covington.
West Point (0-2) received 23 points from Jamia Hollings.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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