STARKVILLE — Without injured starters Gavin Ware and Jacolby Mobley, Starkville High School basketball fans might have been unsure of what to expect in Friday”s district championship against rival Tupelo.
The Golden Wave already owned two wins — by a combined three points — against the Yellow Jackets in regular season play.
Taking Ware, a 6-foot-8 center, and lead guard Mobley out of the equation was sure to limit the Yellow Jackets in a trophy game.
Everyone but the Yellow Jackets felt that way, though.
Brothers Steven and Mike Brand scored 16 and 14 points, respectively, and Stanley Childs had all 12 of his points in the second half for the Jackets
However, Starkville came up three points short in a 67-64 loss to the Golden Wave in the Class 6A, Region 2 title game.
Starkville”s shorthanded performance might have told head coach Greg Carter more about his team”s chances to make a run in the 6A state tournament than if Ware and Mobley would have been available.
“You still got to play,” Carter said. “We”ve been knowing that since Tuesday night that there was a good chance they weren”t gonna play. We still gotta come out and play in a championship game.
“I”m proud of the fact they didn”t come out and use the fact that we were shorthanded as an excuse to lay down. We fought like all get out. We did everything we could to pull out a win. We just came up short in a couple of areas.”
Free throw shooting in particular limited the Jackets” chances to win a game in which they trailed by no more than five points until the fourth quarter.
Starkville (17-7) was just 15 of 26 from the free throw line.
Carter said free throws haven”t been as big an issue with other opponents as they”ve been with the Golden Wave (27-3).
“The free throws and the finishing around the basket, those two things have been thorns in our side pretty much all year,” Carter said. “It didn”t show up every game, but it”d show up from time to time. This was a bad time for it to show up for us.”
Tupelo got a team-high 14 points from senior Deontaye Ewing, who had a 3-pointer and a knifing layup to keep Tupelo”s lead at five points in a nip-tuck fourth quarter.
THS senior Shane Butler had 10 points and knocked down 6 of 8 free throws in the fourth quarter.
Despite having two seniors out with injuries, Tupelo head coach Grant Pate praised the three who played and led the Golden Wave through the fourth quarter.
“I just can”t say enough about our guys,” said Pate. “They”ve really matured throughout the year. We”ve had some great senior leadership down the stretch and we got it again tonight.”
Tupelo faces the loser of Southaven-Desoto Central on Tuesday night, while Starkville faces the winner of that matchup Tuesday on the road.
Ware (bruised knee) and Mobley (bruised ribs) are questionable for Tuesday”s game.
Steven Brand led Starkville”s first-half charge with 11 points, but it was Childs who provided the lift in the third quarter, when the Jackets took the first lead since having a short-lived 16-15 edge in the second. Childs scored four straight baskets, including three-straight dunks that forced Pate to call a timeout with two minutes and 37 seconds left in the period.
“Stanley came in, brought a lot of energy and played real hard,” Carter said. “Sometimes that”s infectious to everybody.”
After Tupelo extended its lead to 54-46 in the fourth, Mike Brand was fouled on a 3-point attempt and made all three from the stripe. He followed with a 3-pointer to answer a basket from Ewing to cut the deficit to three.
Ravontae Gandy kept Starkville within three, 59-56, with a steal and layup with one minute and 45 seconds left. But Tupelo survived 3-pointers from Calvin Young and Steven Brand by making 6 of 8 free throws to close the game.
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