NEW HOPE — NyJal Johnson snuck a glance at his friends in the bleachers and flashed a grin when his straightaway 3-pointer banked off the window and into the basket during the second quarter of Tuesday’s game against New Hope at the Trojan Holiday Classic.
He knew things were going well.
Johnson’s 3 was just one of nine makes from deep for the Starkville High School boys basketball team on Tuesday as the Yellow Jackets (9-1) ran their potent offense to perfection, scoring 46 points in the first half alone and running away with an inspired 82-51 win over the host Trojans (6-2).
“It’s the first time we’ve played well in a long time,” Starkville assistant coach Ed Townsel said. “We’ve been looking for those 20-point quarters, those runs, making shots, pushing the ball. And it all started on the defensive end. As long as we get stops, we’ll be fine.”
Townsel said the Jackets’ energy level was at its highest since the team’s Oct. 31 season opener at Tupelo, a 79-45 win. Repeatedly, that showed.
Senior Coltie Young, who led all scorers with 24 points, threw down three dunks in the first half, including an and-one dunk over New Hope junior Caleb Parr and a reverse slam off an alley-oop feed as the second quarter wound down.
“We can’t really get too happy or too down on the game,” Townsel said. “We try to stay even keeled throughout. It’s good to enjoy now and see that he did it.”
In the game’s final seconds, Leroy Hollingshed added to the Jackets’ highlight reel when he tossed a pass off the backboard for another thrilling dunk. The final basket of the contest, it was just more proof of Starkville’s dominance Tuesday.
On the home bench, meanwhile, there was mostly disappointment. New Hope coach Drew McBrayer said he hoped for a better performance from his team in every aspect despite the stiff level of competition. Parr had 23 points, but no other Trojan finished in double figures.
“We got selfish on the offensive end of the floor, and we didn’t compete on the defensive end of the floor to keep guys in front of us,” McBrayer said. “That’s what happens when you don’t show up to play.”
Like the Yellow Jackets, the Trojans typically bury opponents with 3-point shooting; McBrayer said New Hope got “a dose of its own medicine” Tuesday night.
“You’ve got to show up with a better mental attitude ready to compete at a high level against a team like Starkville, and we didn’t do it tonight,” McBrayer said.
Starkville girls 46, New Hope 31
With just over two minutes to go in the third quarter of Tuesday’s girls game between Starkville and New Hope, a little girl trundled past the thick black sideline and onto the right corner of the court.
A parent soon swooped in to steer the toddler off the court, but for a few seconds, the tot inadvertently gave the Yellow Jackets a sixth defender during New Hope’s possession.
Not that Starkville needed the extra help.
The Jackets (4-4) limited turnovers, clamped down on defense in the second half and pulled away to beat the Trojans 46-31, dropping New Hope to 2-4 on the season.
“I thought we played better than we had in the last couple of games that we’ve had,” Starkville coach Kristie Williams said. “I thought that our intensity level was much better. There’s still some things we’ve got to work on, but I thought overall we did pretty good.”
Louisiana-Monroe signee Amaya Ford had 25 points for the Yellow Jackets, scoring at least six in each of the first three quarters to pace Starkville to the win.
“That’s what we expect,” Williams said. “She’s a Dandy Dozen player, so getting 25 is expected. She can get those numbers every game once she puts her mind to it, but it was good to see that she was able to step up and make the big shots when we needed her to.”
Anna Prince had 13 points, including three 3-pointers, for New Hope. The senior showed off excellent ball-handling skills, shaking several Starkville defenders off their feet throughout the contest.
New Hope coach Nick Christy said Prince has had to take on a “double role” in essentially playing both guard spots since the graduation of Imoni Harris, now at Mississippi University for Women.
“She’s more of a two guard, but she’s had to take on that role of breaking the press, handling the basketball, getting us set up in what we need to get set up in to get the best look that we can,” Christy said.
Starkville’s next game is Tuesday against South Panola, while the Trojans will try to rebound Wednesday against West Lowndes as the tournament continues. After that game, New Hope has just one more non-region game — against Houston — before starting district play, and Christy said his team fared fairly well in Tuesday’s tilt against a Class 6A school.
“We felt like there were times we did some good things,” Christy said. “We kind of got outside of ourselves and let them dictate the pace a little more than we wanted to sometimes. There’s no moral victories, but we saw some things that we can work on, improve; and some things some things that were some positives out of it that we can move forward with, for sure.”
Itawamba Agricultural boys 63, Columbus 59
The Columbus High School boys are still trying to get into a rhythm.
Even with starters Tre Dismuke and Ethan Conner back for Tuesday afternoon’s game against Itawamba Agricultural, the Falcons (5-4) couldn’t manage that in a 63-59 loss.
Columbus coach Phillip Morris pointed to an “off day” on offense coupled with an even worse performance on defense.
“On the defensive side, man, we were just bad,” Morris said. “We were terrible. I don’t know what other way to describe it.”
The Falcons allowed 17 points in each of the final three quarters, allowing the Indians to add to their 12-9 lead after the first period. Itawamba’s Arvesta Troupe went off for 26 points, including 12 in the third quarter alone.
Davon Wilder added 15 points for the Indians, and Keondra Hampton had 10.
On the other side of the ball, Morris summed things up simply: “We weren’t making shots.” Columbus fell behind 29-21 at the half and failed to get much closer by the final horn, at which Blake Burnett sank an open 3 to cut into the margin.
Burnett had 14 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter for the Falcons. Dismuke, back from injury, led Columbus with 23.
The Falcons will take on Sipsey Valley (Alabama) as the tournament continues Wednesday, hoping to find the rhythm they’re still searching for.
“We’ve just got to get it going and try to keep it rolling,” Morris said.
East Union girls 52, Caledonia 51 (OT)
Caledonia allowed the final five points of overtime and let East Union slip past it for a 52-51 win in Tuesday’s first game.
Maggie McVey had the winning and-one layup for the Urchins with 38 seconds to go, and the Cavaliers (3-8) committed a turnover and missed a shot on their final two possessions.
McVey also made both free throws out of a one-and-one situation to send the contest to overtime in the first place. She finished with 19 points to lead all scorers.
Allison Pennington led Caledonia with 16 points, including a go-ahead jumper she banked in with 3:25 to go. But with under two minutes left, McVey hit a 3-pointer to tie the game 42-all.
Tenyzia Lathan added 11 points for Caledonia before fouling out in the fourth quarter. Dominique Hodges, whose and-one layup gave Caledonia a narrow lead in the third quarter, matched Lathan’s scoring output with 11. Hodges helped the Cavs erase a 25-20 halftime deficit.
Caledonia’s next game is Jan. 5 at home against Mooreville.
The Cavaliers’ boys team was scheduled to play Philadelphia to kick off Tuesday’s tournament slate but had to cancel the game because of COVID-19 contact tracing guidelines.
Sipsey Valley (Ala.) boys 79, West Lowndes 45
West Lowndes coach Michael Huffman said the Panthers have played the toughest schedule of any team in MHSAA Class 1A this season.
Tuesday’s game against Sipsey Valley (Alabama) — a Class 5A program in the Alabama public school system — certainly proved his point.
The Bears were simply bigger, stronger and faster than the Panthers, and it showed as West Lowndes suffered a 79-45 loss.
“I felt like we could have played better, but what I like about playing in these type of situations is it makes us stronger,” Huffman said.
West Lowndes struggled to contain star Sipsey Valley junior Martavious Russell, who finished with 19 points but could have had 21 if his attempt at a windmill dunk on a third-quarter breakaway hadn’t bounced hard off the back of the rim.
Senior Fredrick Rice Jr. had 21 points for West Lowndes, and sophomore Darrell Brooks had 11.
The Panthers’ next game will be Tuesday at host New Hope before district play begins Jan. 5 at McAdams, where Huffman coached girls basketball before coming to West Lowndes this season.
Other scores
Prep Boys Basketball
Bayou Academy 58, Heritage Academy 56
SENATOBIA — The Heritage Academy boys lost to Bayou Academy 58-56 on Tuesday at the 2020 Denny Brewer Memorial Classic at Magnolia Heights School in Senatobia.
Mack Howard scored 16 points for the Patriots. Whit Altmyer and Sam Hannon had 10 each.
Heritage Academy will play at Starkville Academy on Jan. 5.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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