JACKSON — Jaworski Rankin knows any successful team has to play to its strengths.
Even though the Aberdeen High School boys basketball team lists depth, speed, quickness, size, and experience among its best qualities, few would argue one player — Marcus Carouthers — has all of the traits that make the Bulldogs go.
That’s why it made perfect sense for Rankin to put the ball in Carouthers’ hands Tuesday night to see if his senior guard could lead the Bulldogs to a state title game.
All Carouthers had to do was execute.
“That was the key,” Rankin said. “We had to (execute). If we didn’t execute in the halfcourt, I don’t think we would have won the ballgame. I think Marcus did a great job of making the play.”
Carouthers (game-high 25 points) answered the call with three layups in the final three-plus minutes to help Aberdeen survive en route to a 57-48 victory against Forest in the semifinals of the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 3A State tournament at Mississippi Coliseum.
“I finish how I can,” Carouthers said. “I tried to put my team on my back and get the win.”
Aberdeen (25-6) will play two-time reigning champion Velma Jackson, which defeated Humphreys County 75-41 on Tuesday, at 4 p.m. Friday for the state title.
Trent Davis had 12 points and 13 rebounds, Queshod Young had 12 points, four rebounds, two assists, and two steals, and Jartavius Dobbs had five points, nine rebounds, and nine blocked shots to help Aberdeen hold on.
Carouthers was 8 of 22 from the field and only 8 of 13 from the free-throw line. He went down hard 1 minute, 43 seconds into the game after he absorbed a hard foul by Khari Parker on what appeared to be an attempted dunk. Parker’s foul wasn’t dirty, but he knocked Carouthers off balance and caused him to come down hard on his right elbow.
Later in the first quarter, Carouthers left the game and had a trainer look at his elbow. Carouthers flexed the elbow to keep it loose and looked to be uncomfortable. He said after the game the elbow bothered him “a little bit,” but that he had to fight through it and do what his team needed him to do.
Carouthers did that and more.
After getting a res of 1:08, Carouthers returned with 3:54 to go and Aberdeen leading 45-43. A turnover had just cost the Bulldogs an opportunity to build on a five-point lead, so Rankin knew his team needed to respond. He opted to spread the floor and have the Bulldogs attack the Bearcats’ man-to-man defense. Carouthers obliged with a drive and score with 3:19 left.
“We thought they were going to box-and-one us,” said Carouthers, who also had seven rebounds, two assists, and three steals. “Coach told us to spread the floor and get me in the middle and see if I could get some baskets inside.”
Carouthers scored again at the 1:41 mark after he missed a drive. This time, Carouthers attacked to the left and used his soft shooting touch to finish at the rim. On the ensuing play, he was one of two players harassing the inbounder and helped force a steal. He then used the left hand to convert another layup. A layup by Davis with 44.5 seconds remaining kicked the lead to 53-45 and virtually sealed the deal.
Dobbs, who attempted only two field goals, put the finishing touches on the victory by hitting two free throws when the Bulldogs were in the one-and-one with 33.7 seconds to go. After the game, the 6-foot-9 center wasn’t happy with the official scorer. He said he got a piece of a 3-pointer by Smith in the waning seconds that would have been his 10th block. Dobbs said he had 15 blocks, but he said neither his nine blocks or the two free throws with the game still in the balance were the most special moments.
“I am more proud of the win,” Dobbs said. “The free throws were big because it really sealed the deal, and free throws were killing us all night (14 of 25), and for me to go out there and step up and knock them down was a big deal.”
Howard Smith led Forest (27-3) with 15 points. Brian Bedney had 11 and Letrevius Pinkston added 10 for the Bearcats, who shot 28.8 percent (19 of 66) from the field, including 29.2 percent (7 of 24) from 3-point range.
Despite shooting only 20 percent (7 of 35) from the field in the first half, Forest only trailed 27-19. The Bearcats hung around and used an 8-0 spurt to open the fourth quarter. A 3-pointer by Howard tied the game at 40 with 5:49 to go. But an offensive rebound putback by Dobbs, which was his only field goal, and 1 of 2 free throws by Jarvis Eckford (three points, seven rebounds) gave the Bulldogs a cushion they held for the rest of the way.
There were plenty of nervous moments, though. A drive by Pinkston cut Aberdeen’s lead to 47-45. Bedney then stripped Young of the ball and went in for a layup, but he couldn’t convert. Javontae Spivey grabbed the rebound and set up Pinkston for a 3-pointer that missed. Aberdeen grabbed the rebound and then used an offensive rebound of its own by Eckford to set up the second of Carouthers’ layups to send the Bulldogs on their way.
For Rankin, who is in his first year as head coach at Aberdeen High, his team’s execution in pivotal stretches was extremely satisfying because it showed the Bulldogs kept their poise and were focused on doing what it takes to win a gold ball.
“It’s humbling,” Rankin said. “I am proud of my kids. To come in with a first-year head coach and they are trying to learn my system and I am trying to learn them, they came together and bought in. That goes back to people like (former Aberdeen High boys basketball) coach (Roy) Hazzle coming in and being supportive and talking to the kids. Like I told somebody else, they are used to winning in Aberdeen anyway, so if you show them love, they are going to buy into what you’re trying to do.”
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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