| By Rion Young
MS High School Sports Page
Twitter: MacCorleone74
STARKVILLE — “My message to the guys this week was effort. Our focus this week was effort defense toughness. We continue to relay those things to the game will be good from here on out,” said Coach Woodie Howard after I caught up with him after the 72-42 Yellowjacket victory.
Starkville showed great effort tonight. They started out great on offense and defense with a quick 11-2 run at the beginning of the game. When they are shooting 3s and playing tight defense they are tough to beat.
Connor Rogers was a great leader for the Yellowjackets. He was the usual Connor tonight. Nice jays (jumpshots) and euro stepping his way to the hole. He plays very well off the ball and can shoot with the best of the best. His three point shot is easy like Sunday morning. He led all scorers with 22 points tonight.
Kylan Bagget also added on a few threes tonight to help the Jackets to a victory. Senavion Roby was great on defense and added a few points to the scoreboard as well.
DeSoto Central was just slow getting it going tonight. The size down low and in the front court seemed to be a problem for them tonight.
“That 17-0 run really hurt us. We are undersized and didn’t need to get off to a slow start,” said Coach Blake Ormon after the game. It was just a hard night for DeSoto Central. Shots weren’t falling and defensively it was hard to stop the Jackets from scoring.
Starkville started out the second half the same way they did the first. Fast and tough defense. A lots of threes and getting to the hole.
Makhi Myles added on 20 points and brought the house down with a nice dunk on a pick and roll play to beat the buzzer of the 3rd quarter. He is one of the best all around players in the state. He handles the ball well to be long and is a true finesser in the paint.
“We practiced a 110% on every play and possession. Sometimes we get a little relaxed on defense, but we decided to turn it up a notch and work on playing hard every possession,” is what Myles had to say about them bouncing back after the loss to Tupelo. It was very clear that Starkville for after it in practice this week.
Saturday’s game is expected to be another competitive one for the Yellowjackets. They will face Southaven who comes in ranked number 7 in the MS High School Sports Page Power Ranking this week. | |
