STARKVILLE — In the inaugural Travis Outlaw Slam Dunk at the Hump holiday basketball tournament there are no plans for a slam dunk contest.
Don’t tell that to the Starkville Yellow Jackets. They broke out their own dunk competition during Wednesday night’s 74-27 romp over Strong, Ark., in an opening-round tournament game played at Humphrey Coliseum on the campus of Mississippi State University.
“The kids were real excited about playing in the coliseum,” Starkville coach Greg Carter said. “This is their tournament. When you are the host team and you are playing in a great place like this, you want to put your best foot forward.
“We certainly did that tonight.”
Wednesday’s first three games were each decided in the final minute of play.
Conversely, the nightcap was decided in perhaps the first minute.
Starkville (11-2) scored the first nine points of the game and quickly reminded everyone its preseason ranking of No. 1 was not in jest.
“We knew we had something to prove,” Starkville senior Jacolby Mobley said. “Our last couple of games were not real good, so we had to come out here and establish something early.”
The Yellow Jackets saw their season-opening 11-game win streak snapped with back-to-back losses in the Columbus-hosted Joe Horne Christmas Classic.
After taking some time off to receive Christmas presents, the Yellow Jackets returned to the hardwood in time to receive several more gifts.
Stifling full-court presssure led to eight straight turnovers by the Bulldogs. Those string of miscues led to a 16-0 run, highlighted by five different rim-rattling dunks.
Starkville led 25-2 after the run and 30-7 after one quarter.
“We talked about pressuring the ball and getting some easy baskets,” Carter said. “We were not as good in that area the last couple of games.
“The kids had something to prove. They wanted to come out strong. We came out of the gates well.”
Back-to-back baskets by Tory Rice fueled a 6-2 run as the Yellow Jackets leaped to a 34-11 advantage.
Starkville shot better than 70 percent from the field in the opening half and led 50-13 at the intermission.
“The confidence got going early tonight,” Mobley said. “We had been looking forward to this game and this tournament the entire season.
“Coach had talked to us about starting strong and we were able to do just that.”
The Yellow Jackets cleared the bench midway through the third quarter. Even at that juncture, Starkville still had not been called for a foul in the contest.
Even the younger Jackets got in the flow. After going more than four minutes without a field goal, SHS scored eight points in 45 seconds.
“It was good that we were able to get so many minutes from our bench players,” Carter said. “When you play three games in three days, it is a luxury if you can keep your starters well-rested.”
Starkville received 15 points from Mobley and 14 points from Rice. A total of 10 players scored for the tournament hosts.
Stetson Billings paced the Bulldogs (7-3) with nine points.
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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