Gators get rematch with St. Stanislaus|Prep basketball playoffs

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, February 25, 2009

There will be no problems getting the Vicksburg Gators motivated for tonight’s Class 4A State Tournament game against St. Stanislaus at the Mississippi Coliseum.

If you go

Vicksburg vs. St. Stanislaus

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Tonight, 8 p.m.

Mississippi Coliseum

Tickets: $10

Being a state tournament game is an obvious motivator but there is that little extra thing for the Gators, namely, a 46-25 thrashing administered by the Rock-a–chaws in last January’s Red Carpet Classic. Stanislaus (25-4) held the Gators to just seven made field goals for the entire game.

“It was a real bad story,” Gator senior guard Maurice Williams said Monday as the Gators prepared for tonight’s rematch with the private school based out of Bay St. Louis. “None of our shots fell and they just murdered us in that first game.”

Game No. 2 should be different because the Gators (22-10) will have something they didn’t have in the first meeting — junior guard Kelsey Howard.

“Stanislaus’s defense worked pretty well against us because we didn’t have our top shooter in Kelsey Howard,” Williams said.

Howard was terrific in last week’s North State Tournament at Callaway. He averaged 21.7 points in three games and scored 26 in a 58-52 upset win over Callaway.

Vicksburg coach Dellie C. Robinson agrees with Williams that Stanislaus didn’t see the real Gators because of Howard’s absence.

“I really didn’t spend that much time looking at the tape because Kelsey didn’t play. We also played a matchup zone in that game and we won’t be playing it this time,” Robinson said.

It’s been their man defense that has gotten the Gators to this point after their crash and burn in the Division 3-4A Tournament, where they finished fourth after losses to Ridgeland (52-48) and Yazoo City (43-34). They bounced back the next week by beating the 1-4A champion Shannon 50-39 on the road. They defeated Noxubee County 72-56, last Thursday. Then came Friday’s upset of Callaway.

Vicksburg will trot out a starting unit consisting of Howard, the team’s top scorer at 16.4 points per game, along with 6-foot-6 sophomore forward Mychal Ammons (14.3 points per game, six rebounds per contest), Williams (10.9 points per game), 6-7 senior center Denzell Erves (9.1 points per game., 8.2 rebounds per game.) and either senior Darius Williams or sophomore Dominique Brown at point guard.

Stanislaus is led by DanielGrieves, a 6-6 sophomore at 22 points per game. Bryan Lynch, a shooting guard, taps in 14 points per game while Pedro Maciel is the point guard.

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Contact Jeff Byrd at jbyrd@vicksburgpost.com.