Howard shoots Gators past Yazoo City

Published 12:00 am Saturday, January 10, 2009

Vicksburg forward Kelsey Howard missed a dunk in the waning moments of Friday’s game against Yazoo City, drawing snickers from his teammates.

It was the only shot the junior missed in the second half as he poured in 18 of his game-high 20 points to lead the Gators to an emphatic 57-44 victory.

“It put us back in the thick of things,” VHS coach Dellie C. Robinson said. “It was definitely a good win for us. Kelsey really stepped up for us big in the second half.”

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It all started early in the third quarter when Howard brought the crowd to their feet with a dunk, and he heated up from that point on.

“I was just feeling it,” Howard said. “That dunk got me hyped.”

Vicksburg (10-4, 4-3 Division 3-4A) led for most of the contest until the Indians (10-8) reeled off an 11-0 run thanks to red-hot shooting from behind the arc. Bradley Lawyer, Jonataveous Sulton and Corey Cox all drained 3-pointers and Demerco Cox scored on a putback as the Indians turned a 33-23 deficit into a 34-33 lead.

It was the last time Yazoo City had the lead, as Howard went to work, scoring a putback and swishing a 3 off back-to-back steals by Darius Williams to propel the Gators to a 9-2 run to close the third.

Howard picked up where he left off in the fourth quarter, singlehandedly burying the Indians with four consecutive baskets to turn the contest into a rout.

He didn’t do the heavy lifting alone, as center Denzell Erves scored 15 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and blocked two shots.

“Denzell is playing well for us right now,” Robinson said. “He’s rebounding well, he’s blocking shots and scoring inside for us. He’s playing tremendous for us. I just can’t say enough about him.”

The Gators, thanks to Erves, largely limited the Indians to one shot per possession despite Yazoo City boasting a pair of 6-foot-5, 250-pound bruisers in Fletcher Cox and Demerco Cox in the paint.

Defensively, Vicksburg managed to limit leading scorer Sulton to only 10 points, most of which he scored when the outcome was no longer in doubt.

Lawyer scored 15 points, all of which came from beyond the 3-point line, to lead Yazoo City.

(G) Yazoo City 63, VHS 55

The Missy Gators couldn’t contain Kenyatta Epps, as she scored a game-high 21 points to pace the Lady Indians. Yazoo City (6-8) led throughout and the Missy Gators (6-8) managed to whittle the deficit down to two, at 55-53 in the third, but back-to-back turnovers kept VHS from getting any closer.

Shanequa Hill scored 17 points for the Missy Gators, while Donyeah Mayfield added 15 and Alexus Strigus chipped in 10.

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Contact Steve Wilson at swilson@vicksburgpost.com