MACON — Leaders do what their teams need.
Daquarius Mallard knew entering his senior basketball season at Noxubee County High School that he would play a key role in making the 2010-11 campaign one to remember.
That”s why the 5-foot-9 guard took it upon himself to come off football season ready to go and motivated to set the tone on the basketball court.
Mallard has done just that on both ends of the floor. Not only has the high-scoring sharp-shooter been a leader on offense, but he has hunkered down on defense in an attempt to help lead the Tigers to Jackson, the site of the state tournament.
Last week, Mallard had 23 points Friday in a 74-49 victory against West Lowndes. He added 11 more in a 71-48 victory against Kosciusko on Tuesday.
For his accomplishments, Mallard is The Dispatch Prep Player of the Week.
“My shooting has really surprised me this year because I didn”t get a chance to work on my shooting skills after football,” said Mallard, who played in the secondary for the Noxubee County High football team. “I started back working on my shooting skills and they have steadily improved.”
A week earlier, he had a career-high 36 points, including 20 in the fourth quarter, in an 83-80 loss to Starkville.
Despite the gaudy scoring numbers, Noxubee County High boys basketball coach T.J. Billups said Mallard is doing more than just scoring.
“He has become more of a facilitator,” Billups said. “Last year, he was mainly our go-to guy as far as scoring. This year, he is giving up the ball more to get other people involved.”
As a result, the Tigers (20-4) usually have three to four players — Earnest Hunter, Howard Spann, Magic Turner, or Terrence Baron — score in double figures each game.
Mallard said the improvement of the team”s post players also has contributed to his willingness to share the wealth. It is just another way Mallard is more of a leader and a team player.
Billups said Mallard defers to Hunter in some situations, but he said he finds ways to get his shots and does a great job of being a scorer instead of a shooter. He said Billups has improved his ballhandling to free himself from defenses that know to key on him entering games.
Mallard also has accepted Billups” love for defense. He talked more about his defense and how that affects his game and the play of the team than lighting up opponents from 3-point range.
“I am not really satisfied with my defense,” Mallard said. “I know it can be better. I just have to get better defensively. I need to excel on my defense and keep the intensity up and be a team player and keep the bench involved in the game.”
That”s a lot to ask from one player, but Mallard feels his example carries over to his teammates. He said Billups stresses the need for everyone to “get after it” on defense because games are decided at that end of the court. He hopes his defense will help him get recognized and earn an opportunity to play basketball at the next level.
Honing his dribbling skills will be a step he likely will have to continue to work on if he wants to play basketball in college. At 5-9, Billups said Mallard probably gets “overanalyzed” because of his size. But he said Mallard”s attitude and athleticism are two great examples of what he would bring to a program.
“He can put the ball in the basket as well as anyone in the area around here, regardless of his size,” Billups said. “He is a very good ballhandler. The reason I don”t play him at the point a lot is Terrence does a very, very good job getting the ball where it needs to be. He doesn”t need to score to affect our team.”
Mallard said he hasn”t received interest from East Mississippi Community College, but has been contacted by Holmes C.C. He said he isn”t sure where he might end up, but he is focused on doing whatever he needs to do to play at the next level.
“I accepted leadership role coming off football because I wanted to take us to Jackson and to be a leader in practice to get everybody on the same page and to make sure everybody brings their best every night and every day in practice.
“Accepting a leadership role made me pick up my intensity.”
Noxubee County will play West Point on Friday in its regular-season finale. The Tigers, who have lost two games to Starkville and one each to Brandon and Aberdeen, will be the top seed for the Class 4A, District 4 tournament, which will be next week at Kosciusko. Noxubee County will get a bye and likely won”t play until Thursday.
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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