Columbus High School boys basketball coach Phillip Morris knows you need a strong all-around effort to defeat Starkville.

“You’ve got to do a lot of things right,” Morris said. “Take care of the basketball, rebound, at least hold their best players to a minimum, which we kind of did.”

The Falcons did, and Tre Dismuke led all scorers with 19 points, but it still wasn’t enough. 

Senavion Roby scored 16 points, and Connor Rogers added 15 — all on 3-point shots — as the Yellow Jackets held off a fourth-quarter rally to claim a dramatic 60-59 victory over the Falcons on Friday night in Columbus.

The Jackets led 26-25 at halftime and appeared to have the game under control after a big third quarter. Rogers hit three of his 3-pointers, and Makhi Myles scored 6 of his 11 points, during the period as Starkville outscored Columbus 23-14. 

A 15-footer by Myles stretched the lead to a game-high 12 at 51-39, but the Falcons methodically started to come back. Despite never scoring more than two consecutive baskets, Columbus in just more than 5 minutes whittled that lead down to 1, as Willie Young buried a casual 3-pointer at the 3:31 mark and then drove for a bucket almost a minute later to make it 58-57.

“I think they did some things to come back, but we didn’t make it hard for them,” Starkville coach Woodie Howard said. “I think we relaxed on offense, defense, and we could have stayed with the pressure a little bit more. But they did some good things.”

Starkville missed four free throws during the final minute but never lost the lead. Roby’s layup at :53.1 pushed the lead to three, and senior guard Tre Dismuke answered with 17 seconds left by grabbing a loose ball and driving to the hole for Columbus.

But that was the end of the scoring. Starkville missed two free throws with 9.3 seconds left to give Columbus a last shot, but the Falcons lost the ball while driving toward the basket, and Rogers was able to dribble out the clock for the Yellow Jackets.

Morris said the Falcons had contributions up and down the roster.

“One of our young guys, Jayden Tatum, made some big shots down the stretch. He’s a sophomore,” Morris said of a player who made three 3-pointers during the fourth quarter. “Jakele Phillips, he made some big shots throughout the game. JJ (Williams) didn’t have a great game offensively, but he stepped up and played a great game defensively.

Phillips finished with 11 points, joining Mike Williams (11) in double figures.

For Starkville, which used size to its advantage inside for most of the game, also had three players in double figures as Myles finished with 11 points.

The win was the eighth consecutive for the Yellow Jackets (10-1), while the Falcons are 7-3.

Saturday

Starkville 72, Brandon 69: Makhi Myles netted 23 points, Connor Rogers scored 18 and Kylan Baggett and Senavion Roby each had 11 for the Yellow Jackets (11-1).