JACKSON — When the Starkville High School boys basketball team left Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson after reaching and winning last season’s Class 6A championship, head coach Greg Carter didn’t think his team would make a repeat trip the following season.
The Yellow Jackets graduated a lot of talented players, leaving mostly inexperienced seniors and underclassmen to fill their role.
But in Wednesday’s MHSAA Class 6A semifinal against Harrison Central, Starkville showed its growth and proved its coach’s early prediction wrong.
Coltie Young came out firing in the first quarter, Zeke Cook dominated down low in the second, and Starkville (26-2) bullied Harrison Central (24-5) by a score of 70-53 at the Mississippi Coliseum to play for its second straight state title Saturday.
“We had a lot of guys who really grew up this year,” Carter said. “We had a lot of guys really grow up.”
Among them were Young and Cook, who scored 17 and 12 points, respectively.
Young, a junior sharpshooter, got the Jackets going with 11 of his points in the first quarter, including three 3-pointers, after a couple of poor performances in recent games.
“He’d been down on himself, so I’m proud of him,” senior guard Forte Prater said. “He had a good game tonight. He hit some big shots.”
So did Cook, who dominated the Jackets’ scoring in the second quarter. The Northeast Mississippi Community College signee, who returned in mid-February from a broken foot suffered before the season, scored 10 points in the second quarter alone — four layups and two free throws — as he made his presence known inside.
“I feel like when he’s in the middle and we feed him the ball, he’s gonna score,” Young said. “They guard him with anybody, he’s gonna score.”
At times, Cook didn’t think he’d be able to play this year, but he was able to come back and show what he could do.
“It means a lot to me that I can just come out here and dominate like that in that quarter,” he said.
He helped Starkville push a 20-11 lead after the first quarter to 37-22 at the half, and the Yellow Jackets kept on pushing the pace in the third.
After the Red Rebels’ Cameran Haynes made a pair of free throws 37 seconds into the third quarter, Starkville scored the next 12 points. Bookended by layups from Prater, senior Eric Green hit a 3, Young knocked down a pair of free throws and senior Trey Jackson connected from deep. By the end of the three-minute spurt, Starkville was doubling up Harrison Central 52-26.
The Jackets outrebounded the Red Rebels 42-35 and held them to just 28.6 percent shooting from the field.
“I thought we defended and rebounded really well,” Carter said. “The biggest key to beating them is that you’ve gotta keep them in front of you and you’ve gotta rebound. They’re one of the most physical teams we’ve played all year.”
Starkville was aided by an injury to Harrison Central star Carlous Williams, who banged knees with a teammate during practice Tuesday. Williams, slowed by the injury, went 0 for 2 from the floor in just nine minutes.
Demarius Coleman starred for the Red Rebels with 25 points on 8-of-16 shooting, but no other Harrison Central player scored 10 or more points.
Starkville had four players in double figures — Young, Cook, Jamarvious Phillips (11 points) and Prater (10) — as the Jackets put together a stellar team performance to send them to Oxford.
Starkville will play Murrah at 7 p.m. Saturday at The Pavilion at Ole Miss for the Class 6A title. For the Jackets who have reached the top before, Wednesday’s win felt good, but they know what it’s like to go all the way and won’t be happy unless they get there again.
“It’s a great feeling,” Prater said. “I’m not feeling that yet, because I haven’t won it yet. I’m not satisfied with it.”
Other scores
Class 3A girls: Ruleville Central 55, Tylertown 52
Class 3A girls: Senatobia 41, Crystal Springs 24
Class 3A boys: St. Andrew’s 64, Holly Springs 54
Class 3A boys: Velma Jackson 61, Houston 44
Class 6A girls: Olive Branch 65, Harrison Central 49
Class 6A girls: Clinton 63, Meridian 51
Class 6A boys: Murrah 63, Biloxi 50
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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