Volunteers start quest at 4A State
It can be Jawon Yarbrough one night. It can be Dre Frazier another.
Randall Futral and Wiggy Ball have also been known to step up at times for the Starkville Academy Volunteers on the basketball court.
Those are the Vols that were recognized on the North Class 4A All-tournament team a couple of weeks ago, but there are players on the roster capable of producing.
That dynamic of the Starkville
Academy boys basketball team is what pleases head coach Bill Ball as it prepares to participate in the Class 4A State Tournament this week at Hillcrest Christian School in Jackson.
“I’m real proud of our kids,” Ball said. “Everybody has contributed and playing at a high level. We’ve had different guys step up on different nights. I can think of two or maybe three of those games in the North State Tournament where we put four guys in double figures (in scoring). When you have a balanced
Starkville Academy boys basketball coach Bill Ball, left, visits with his team in the huddle during an earlier game this
scoring attack, that means you’ve got multiple guys that are playing with confidence and feeling good about themselves and what they are doing.
“It’s been a fun group to coach. We’ve just continued to get better. We had a long way to go early in the year, but we kind of figured out what we do well and how to capitalize on it. Roles are being defined and all of that points to good basketball. I think we are playing our best basketball at the right time of the year.”
The Vols (19-3) won the Class 4A, District 2 Tournament by defeating Lamar School 59-46 and Leake Academy 56-40, then won the North Class 4A Tournament two weeks ago by winning over Washington School 62-22, Bayou Academy 64-50 and Magnolia Heights 59-40.
With the winter storm that hit the state of Mississippi last week, it postponed all of the state tournaments in the Midsouth Association of Independent Schools.
Starkville Academy hopes the momentum it has built from winning back-to-back tournaments is not slowed by being off last week.
“We felt like we were playing well,” Ball said. “It shut down for us and it shut down for everybody so we’re all in the same boat. It’s a matter of which teams can adjust and get back to playing at a high level quickly. We certainly hope to prove to do that.”
The Vols open the Class 4A State Tournament as the No. 1 seed out of the North by playing Park Place, which is the South’s No. 4 seed.
Park Place is a program that Starkville Academy does not see very much in athletics and will be the first time Ball has coached against the school in his basketball
coaching career.
One thing Ball does know is that Park Place has played well enough to make it this far in the postseason so it is capable of playing well.
“Any team playing this time of the year has the ability to score and is pretty well-coached,” Ball said. “Park Place has three kids that can really score and they will be a challenge for us. From there, if we are fortunate enough to advance, we’ll only see better competition.”
Tip time for the Vols in Jackson tonight is set for 7 p.m.