STARKVILLE — The Starkville High School boys basketball team has been living on the edge.
Starkville squandered a narrow lead and folded down the stretch against Murrah in the Joe Horne Columbus Christmas Classic. The following night, it escaped Tupelo, 51-50, after holding a seven-point lead in the fourth quarter.
Tupelo tested Starkville again in the fourth quarter Monday night at the Travis Outlaw Slam Dunk at Humphrey Coliseum, but stingy man-defense and 19 points from Blake Rogers helped the Yellow Jackets notch their second-straight win against the Golden Wave, 47-39.
Starkville (11-2) led by as many as 16 points and watched that lead dwindle to six before closing out the game. Starkville held Tupelo to its lowest scoring output of the season by 11 points.
“The last time we played, we didn’t defend as well as we needed to,” Starkville coach Greg Carter said. “We gave up some easy baskets, and we didn’t keep them in front of us like we should. We did a lot better tonight. (Tupelo’s Jaylon Copeland) made some big jumpers for them, but outside of that, we defended pretty well.”
Starkville powered to its 16-point lead on a rip-and-run layup and an and-one by Jamarrion Brown in a 10-0 run to start the third quarter. The Yellow Jackets ripped off seven forced turnovers from the beginning of the second quarter to the end the run in the third quarter, often frustrating the Golden Wave into possessions in which they’d run off up to 40 seconds trying to manufacture a quality shot.
“We worked in practice on keeping the ball in front of us,” Carter said. “We didn’t do a good job of that against Murrah, and we didn’t do a good job of that the last time we played Tupelo. We focused on that in practice, a lot. It paid off.”
Tupelo coach Jeff Norwood said the Jackets played tighter man-defense earlier than usual and forced his players into contested shots at the hoop, where they were at a distinct height disadvantage against 6-foot-8 Jesse Little, who had four blocked shots, and 6-5 Darrious Agnew.
“What I’ve noticed about Starkville, over time, is they tighten up when they need to tighten up,” Norwood said. “Usually, they’ll start the game, kind of sloughing on defense but being in the right position, then they’ll tighten it up as they need it more. But tonight, they guarded us a bit tighter earlier than usual, which should be to our advantage with the way we like to play — running motion with a chance to get to the hole. But early on, we didn’t finish some shots we could have; they blocked some of them and changed some shots.”
Tupelo’s lineup took a hit late in the third quarter when Nick Ratliff picked up his fourth personal foul and a technical foul. Starkville carried a 13-point lead into the fourth, but it committed three-straight turnovers against Tupelo’s press and traps. Tupelo cut Starkville’s lead to eight on three occasions in the fourth quarter and six with less than a minute to go, but Starkville closed the game at the free-throw line, where Rogers was 13 of 14.
“We had the home crowd, so it really helped the guards settle down and handle the ball better,” Rogers said. “Coach rides us guards in practice; we know we have to play bigger.”
Copeland scored 14 of his 21 points in the second half and was the lone bright spot offensively for the Golden Wave. Kylan Hamilton, who led Tupelo with 15 in the last matchup, had seven points Monday. Tupelo had two points from its bench, while Starkville’s bench was held scoreless.
“It’s tough to beat anyone when you don’t get layups,” Norwood said. “They’re a hard team to lay up against because of their position defense, but also because of their length. But, at the same time, what’s an advantage on one end should be a disadvantage on the other end if you’re able to spread out, play right, take open shots and make open shots, but you have to be in great shape to play that way. We’re in good shape, but we’re not in shape to play the way we need at both ends to beat a team like that.”
Carter was pleased with the play of his backcourt players, who are young and inexperienced. Late turnovers against Tupelo and Murrah last week stymied efforts to close out games and led to easy transition buckets. And while Brown and Jordan Temple continue to grow within the offense, their renewed focus on defense will be their strengths, Carter said.
“It all comes down to our guards,” Carter said. “They’ve got to continue to get better and continue to grow up. You’re going to have some bumps in the road. They’ve had some games where they’ve played great. They’ve had some games where they’ve been up and down within the game. Tonight, I thought they played pretty well up until that fourth quarter when they started pressing. We’ll learn from that.”
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