The Starkville Yellowjackets are taking momentum to Canton today for the Class 5A, Region 3 Tournameht.
Winners of four-straight games, the Jackets believe they are playing their best basketball of the season.
"The last couple of weeks we've been playing pretty well," SHS boys coach Greg Carter said. "Sometimes it doesn't always equate to a win, but we have been able to pull out some good wins.
"We have gotten better in the last couple of weeks. We talked about in January that once we got the football players in and had a whole team, we wanted to make some improvements. We've tinkered with different lineups and things and have finally gotten to the point where we've put it together a little bit."
The Jackets, who sport a 9-13 overall record, have wins against Neshoba Central, Noxubee County, Canton and Aberdeen in the last four outings.
Carter likes the effort his team has given all season long, but has noticed the defense and rebounding getting better.
"We're not very big, but we talk about all of them having to rebound even the smallest of the guards," Carter said. "It's about gang-rebounding and we are doing that real well. When we throw the ball inside, we're diving down with the guards. When they put it on the floor, we've been able to get some steals that way. We've been able to force teams into shooting jump shots and then we rebound. If you do that, you can win a lot of games."
Starkville faces Canton on its home floor in the first round of the region tournament at 7:30 p.m.
Carter realizes it's a tough situation to play the home team on the road in a putout game, but believes the Jackets are ready to make the most of it. SHS won the last matchup between the two teams 63-47 a couple of weeks ago.
"That's the cards we've been dealt," Carter said. "We're not going to sit around and complain about it. We're just going to go get ready and go play."
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