STARKVILLE — Starkville High School has outscored its opponents 133-72 thus far in the Travis Outlaw Slam Dunk at the Hump high school basketball tournament.
Thursday night, the Yellow Jackets continued their tear, defeating Carroll High School (La.) 59-45. The night before Starkville routed Strong (Ark.), 74-27.
“I think we had lost a little confidence playing against zones and tonight helped us,” Starkville head coach Greg Carter. “That was a good experience for us.”
The Bulldogs utilized a 1-3-1 defensive setup, which has been tough for the Jackets to work against this season. But Starkville did not have any trouble scoring on the overmatched Bulldogs.
The Yellow Jackets began the first quarter with an 11-2 run and led 19-8 at the end of the quarter. Starkville dominated the rest of the half by outscoring the Bulldogs 30-14. The Jackets allowed Carroll only six points in the second quarter.
Carroll picked up the pace coming out of the locker room for the second half. Carroll outscored the Jackets 14-12 in the third quarter and 31-29 for the second half. But regardless of its efforts, Carroll could not overcome the Yellow Jackets.
Starkville would play keep-away from the Bulldogs during the majority of the fourth quarter.
Yellow Jackets Mike Brand and Jacolby Mobley passed the ball back in forth and would sometimes add Steve Brand into the mix.
“We were just running clock,” Carter said. “And when the opportunity presented itself, be aggressive and attack the basket.”
Brand and senior center Gavin Ware led Starkville with 17 and 15 points respectfully.
“We executed our press real well tonight,” said Ware after wiping sweat from his brow. “We really hustled out there today.”
Ware will continue his basketball career after high school at Mississippi State. For him, Ware believes playing in the Hump during this tournament will give him the upper hand against his opponents.
“It’s an overwhelming experience knowing that I’ll be coming here next year,” Ware said. “I could see Coach (Carter)’s eyes getting real big because he used to play here, it is just a great experience.”
It goes without saying that Starkville has yet to face a challenging foe this week of tournament play. But tomorrow the Jackets will face off with East High — a team from Memphis that has won both of its games in the tournament, defeating Aberdeen (80-73) and Strong (86-56).
“They are real long and athletic,” Brand said. “They can really jump and have great athletes. We just have to play basketball – we need to play the game right and get the win.”
Starkville improved its record to 12-2 and will finish up the Travis Outlaw tournament today at 3:30 p.m. with that contest against East High.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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