STARKVILLE — Senior Night at Starkville High School on Tuesday night stirred a lot of emotions boys basketball coach Greg Carter knew his team would need to overcome.
After a slow start, Starkville did just that in a 76-44 victory against Neshoba Central.
In its final regular-season home game, Starkville (21-3) used 19- and 12-point efforts from the outside-inside duo of Jacolby Mobley and Gavin Ware to cap a memorable evening.
“It got pretty emotional in the stairwell right before they got called out,” Carter said. “Guys started thinking about how short this high school career really is — how quickly it is all over — so they really wanted to go out and play well.”
Starkville led at 40-22 at halftime thanks in large part to Mobley, who had 16 points against the Rockets’ slow-down style.
“We’ve been playing against slower-paced teams here lately that I don’t know if we will be ready for a fast-paced game,” Carter said. “It seems like every team we’ve played here lately has slowed it down a lot, but we are getting ready to face Aberdeen and normally they like to get it and go.”
The win secured the No. 1 seed in the first round of the Class 5A region playoffs, which will begin Feb. 7 at Neshoba Central on Feb. 7. The first-round contest will be a rematch of Tuesday night, and will give Starkville its third chance to beat Neshoba Central this season.
“The offense they run, the way they screen you, you’ve got to continually guard them,” Carter said. “You’ve got to be talking on defense to keep up with all the cutting and screening they do. We need to make a mental note of that heading into next week.”
Neshoba Central (G) 68,
Starkville 65
Starkville hopes it will have better luck the third time it faces Neshoba Central in the first round of the Class 5A region playoffs Feb. 9 in its gym.
On Tuesday, Starkville coach Kristie Williams’ squad rallied after trailing for most of the second half and was within three points with less than two seconds remaining.
“I really can’t fault the effort of my team, and I think this game proved we have grown as a team throughout the season,” Williams said. “There was more hustle and grind to the last bucket than I’d seen with my team all season.”
Starkville’s Brittany Brown (game-high 27 points) took the inbounds pass from Jacqueline Fair but couldn’t get her final shot, which allowed the Lady Rockets to escape.
After losing to Neshoba Central 58-34 on Dec. 6, 2011, in Philadelphia, Starkville (11-11) took a one-point lead at halftime, but an early run by Neshoba Central helped turn the momentum.
“We had some mental errors at crucial times, but what we have to take from this is we know our season isn’t nearly over after a loss like this,” Williams said. “We really think after tonight we can beat Neshoba Central, and that’s a major confidence boost for us.”
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