STARKVILLE — The atmosphere in the gym at Starkville High School on Friday felt like a state championship game.
Arguably the best two teams in MHSAA Class 6A, Region 1, Starkville and Tupelo were knotted up in a big-time battle down the stretch, but from the outset, Tupelo was the team in charge.
Coming off a tough home loss against the Yellow Jackets on Tuesday, the Golden Wave played like they weren’t about to lose two straight games to their district rival in the same week.
Taking an 11-point lead at half, Tupelo was in the driver’s seat, but not too long after, Starkville found its groove and used the home crowd to its advantage, mounting an impressive second-half comeback to defeat the Golden Wave, 66-62.
“The crowd was big for us,” Starkville head coach Qu’Varius “Woodie” Howard said. “They brought the energy that we needed with it being a home game…We had to come back here and get it, and the crowd showed up and they showed out.”
The Yellow Jackets (18-4, 4-0) trailed by as many as 13 points in the third quarter, but behind the play of senior forward Makhi Myles, who scored a game-high 33 points, the comeback began.
Starkville started rattling off runs in the third quarter, cutting the deficit to as little as three points before trailing 51-47 headed into the fourth.
Blow after blow was traded early on in the fourth quarter, but guard Connor Rogers, who ran into foul trouble in the first half, was crucial down the stretch, scoring nine points for a 2:15 stretch from the 2:59 mark of the fourth to seal the deal.
“When we came back out, I told him to just be aggressive,” Howard said. “Just play free, don’t worry about the two fouls. Just don’t pick up two more on the defense and on offense, just attack and that’s what he came out and did.”
Tupelo (12-8, 2-2) struggled in the second half to contain Myles, who scored 17 of his 33 points in the second half and shot 5 of 6 from the foul line.
After half, Myles pointed up at the scoreboard and said to his teammates that they got this, and got this the Jackets did.
“We came out at halftime down 11,” Myles said. “I knew we had it because we had to come out and get stops and play aggressive … It doesn’t matter how much we score, we still have to stop them from scoring or else we’re going to lose.”
When Rogers tied the game up at 56-56, the momentum, which had already begun to shift in favor of the Jackets, became that much more for the home team.
Then he turned on another gear, scoring two really nice baskets in the lane as the Golden Wave looked clueless on defense trying to stop him.
Tupelo was all out of sorts when it came to defending the interior, something that began with immediate success from Myles to get baskets in the paint or draw contact to get to the line.
From there, the floor opened up tremendously as players like Rogers, who finished with 11 points in the game, started to get their way.
“They went to their strong suit,” Tupelo head coach Robert Green said. “We really just don’t have anybody to match up with (Myles) lengthwise. He’s so crafty and he can just finish over everybody. He knows how to score around the block.”
The Golden Wave came out hot in the first quarter, hitting a barrage of 3-pointers and setting the tone from there.
Not preventing Starkville from getting inside and being productive sent the Golden Wave into a tailspin as defensive lapses trickled down to the offense.
Despite building a large lead, the inability for Tupelo to close out a win was its downfall as Starkville took advantage of a packed house and sent them home happy on Friday.
The Jackets take on Grenada in their next game at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Starkville girls 59, Tupelo 58
Friday’s doubleheader of basketball ended just like it started, as the girls game set the tone early for what to expect between Starkville and Tupelo.
The final two minutes or so of the fourth quarter were amongst the most chaotic minutes of high school basketball played in the Golden Triangle this season as the Yellow Jackets did what they could to prevent a late Golden Wave comeback.
Loose balls sent bodies flying on the floor, shots weren’t falling and things were getting increasingly physical.
Enter freshman Jada Gay, who came off the bench and was quickly inserted into a big time, pressure-packed situation with just seconds remaining.
Gay was fouled on the shot, sending her to the line with the game tied at 58-58. Her inexperience on a high school court didn’t show in that moment, knocking down 1 of 2 as Starkville prevailed in a 59-58 win.
“It’s one of those moments that we go over in practice, down one with two minutes on the clock,” Starkville head coach Kristie Williams said. “We put them in those thinking processes because it’s down the stretch where you need to think on the fly … They kept their poise, and my senior leaders, they stood up to the challenge and were able to push everyone through.”
Jamaica Young was among those senior leaders for Starkville (15-3, 3-1 in district), scoring a team-high 17 points in the win, but it was a group effort to take down a Tupelo team that had just one loss coming into Friday.
When the two teams faced off on Tuesday, the Jackets built a sizable lead but saw that lead dwindle late as they were unable to fend off a late Golden Wave comeback.
The opposite happened on Friday, with Gay the last-second hero in a game that didn’t feel complete without some game-winning shot.
“It was a lot of pressure,” Gay said. “We were down, and we were tired. If I missed, we were heading to overtime, but I was so glad that I made it. It felt good.”
Starkville played as complete of an offensive game as it’s played this season, with three players finishing in double figures in scoring.
Alongside Young, Zariyah Edwards scored 16 points, and Je’Niecia Hill finished with 11 points in a game that was heavyweight bout until the end.
Starkville will travel to face Grenada in its next game at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 29 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
