The Kosciusko High School boys basketball earned a trio of wins last week to improve to 5-1 on the season.
The Whippets defeated Leake County 61-27 last Tuesday and grabbed wins against Noxapater (88-13) and JZ George (50-41) to win the J.Z. George Tournament on Thursday. And Friday
“They played well (last) week,” Kosciusko head coach Eleazarus Greenleaf said. “With the addition of the football players, we still have some things we have to work out with defensive rotations. They’re still learning the offense. I think they played hard, and as a coach, that’s all you can ask them to do. They did those, which I think ultimately helped us win the tournament.”
Calvin Banks scored a team-high 16 points and grabbed six rebounds against Leake Central, while JaQuan Hall chipped in with 13 points.
Eshavious Mays scored 12 points on Thursday to help lift the Whippets past Noxapater. Mays added four steals. Hall and Ellis Armon finished with nine points apiece, and Hall collected nine rebounds.
Hall erupted for 14 points and eight rebounds against J.Z. George in the tournament championship to help the Whippets secure the nine-point win. Mays and Antonio Harmon each finished with eight points.
The Whippets have a pair of road games this week at Greenwood (Tuesday) and Eupora (Friday).
“The Greenwood game will be a really tough and physical ball game,” Greenleaf said. “They’re a really good basketball team… They can score, and they play really good defense. I don’t know much about Eupora, but I think with both games, if we play defense and control the rebounds and limit turnovers, I think we’ll do great.”
GIRLS
Jakyra Young and Ariel Fleming scored 22 points apiece last Tuesday as Kosciusko defeated Leake County 68-46. Aaliyah Amey added 10 points and seven rebounds.
Young posted another double-digit scoring outing on Thursday against Noxapater as she scored 16 points to lead all scorers. Fleming contributed six points.
The Young-Fleming duo again yielded positive results as it combined for 36 of the Lady Whippets 66 points in their 66-29 win over J.Z. George in the J.Z. George tournament championship game.
The wins improved Kosciusko to 4-1 on the year.
“I thought it was a good start to the season,” Kosciusko head coach Cory Guyton said. “We had a tough loss against Germantown, and I think that sparked us a little bit. It kind of boosted us up. It’s always good to get a couple wins after a loss. We just want to continue to push and strive to be better on both ends of the floor.”
The Lady Whippets are on the road this week at Greenwood (Tuesday) and Eupora (Friday).
“I think Greenwood is going to be a good matchup for us,” Guyton said. “They kind of play some of the similar type of basketball that we play — a little pressure defense. This game is going to come down to who makes the least amount of mistakes.”
