Young, Jackets headed back to the Big House
Coltie Young said that he and his teammates worked hard all week to show out and make it back to the semifinals of the Class 6A State Tournament.
Mission accomplished for Young and the Starkville Yellow Jackets.
Starkville punched its ticket to the semifinals in Jackson and the Big House (a.k.a. Mississippi Coliseum) with a 78-54 win over Olive Branch at The Nest on Saturday night.
Young had himself a night, leading the Jackets with 26 points, two of those coming from a putback slam late in the game to seemingly seal the deal.
“I haven’t had a dunk
all game and I just wanted to pump the crowd up for that last minute,” Young said.
SHS assistant coach Ed Townsel said that Saturday night is exactly how the team needs to be playing going forward.
“The guys played well tonight, they guarded really well and stayed consistent in scoring,” Townsel said. “We’ve been playing like that for the last three games. If we keep that up, we’ll continue to be a tough team to play against.”
Young’s 26-point performance was not all that sent the Jackets to Jackson.
For him, it was nothing short of a team effort.
“I think we worked hard on our defense during practice leading up to this game,” Young said. “We were hoping that our hard work would show on the floor tonight and it really did.”
Young also said that continuing to guard, rebound, and make shots will be key to keeping SHS on track to making the state title three-peat as it heads to Jackson.
As the Jackets focus on the semifinals next week, Townsel said that the team needs to keep doing what it is doing.
“Keep guarding, (and) keep playing like we’ve been playing,” said Townsel.
“We’ve played three good games, but those games don’t matter now. For the next one, we’ve got to play it the same way through all 32 minutes and get the win. Win to survive – survive and advance.”
With Young leading the way with his 26 points for the Jackets, the rest of the scoring leaders were Keyvon Pearson with 17, Eric Green with 11, Mahki Myles with seven and Jarmarvious Phillips with five.
The Starkville bench contributed 10 points in Saturday’s win.
The Jackets (19-2) will be back in action on Wednesday when they face the Oak Grove Warriors in the semifinals.