STARKVILLE — All five starters scored in double figures, paced by Connor Rogers’ 24 points, as the Starkville High School boys basketball team celebrated senior night with an 89-61 victory over Columbus on Tuesday night.
Makhi Myles scored 19 points, including a crowd-pleasing dunk on a powerful drive through the lane late in the second quarter when the outcome was very much in doubt. Senavion Roby scored 16 points, while Kylan Baggett and Jonathan Baker each tallied 10.
The Yellow Jackets (17-3) used a 10-0 run midway through the first period to take an early lead, with Roby scoring 5 of the points. The lead grew to 12 at 25-13, and the hosts took a 27-16 lead going into the second quarter.
But the Falcons (15-7), who lost 60-59 in the first meeting between the teams on Dec. 10 in Columbus, rallied during the second quarter, with Willie Young scoring 7 of his game-high 25 points in the period. Young was fouled on a drive with less than a second remaining in the half and nailed two free throws to make it 38-32 at intermission.
But another 10-0 run for Starkville, this one keyed by 3-pointers from Roby and Baggett, pushed the lead to 53-34. Despite four consecutive free throws by Mike Williams after a personal found and a technical foul were called on the same sequence, the Falcons were outscored 14-10 the rest of the period.
Both teams continued to play up-tempo, entertaining basketball despite the Jackets’ lead, with the Falcons drawing fouls on drives to the basket and on putbacks while the Jackets continued to shoot long-range bombs and get out on fast breaks. And when Baker rebounded a missed dunk by Myles and hit a layup with 3:43 left in the game, Starkville had its biggest lead at 79-52.
Starkville’s starters scored 79 of the team’s 89 points, while the Falcons, who had 8 points from their bench, connected on 27 of 34 free throws.
Columbus’ scheduled regular-season finale on Friday against Kemper County has been canceled, while Starkville will travel to Macon that day to face Noxubee County.
Girls basketball
Columbus 52, Starkville 33: In Starkville, Makayla Rieves scored 20 points to lead the Falcons to their second victory this year over the Yellow Jackets.
The Falcons led throughout but didn’t take control of the game until the third quarter, when they outscored the Yellow Jackets 15-4 led by Rieves’ 7 points. That gave the visitors a 42-24 lead going into the final 8 minutes, when the teams essentially traded baskets.
Shania Givens scored 10 points for Columbus (18-4), which is done with the regular season and will go into the playoffs as the top seed out of Class 5A Region 1. Starkville, which was led by Zariyah Edwards with 11 points, fell to 10-10 going into its regular-season finale Friday at Noxubee County.
You can help your community
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 42 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
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 42 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
Join the Discussion