Robinson to coach all-star team|Prep basketball

Published 12:00 am Friday, March 20, 2009

As an assistant coach for Mississippi in last year’s Mississippi-Alabama high school all-star basketball game, Vicksburg coach Dellie C. Robinson saw the value of guard play.

This time, Robinson heads back to the Pelham Civic Center in Pelham, Ala., as the Mississippi boys head coach and is bringing several of the state’s best guards with him, including Callaway standout Julysses Nobles and Biloxi’s Isaiah Canaan. The 19th annual game tips off at 7 p.m., following the girls game at 5. The series is tied at 9-9 after Alabama’s 101-99 win last year in Pelham.

Robinson said he learned a lot from last year’s game.

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“Last year as an assistant, I mainly watched, but I learned a lot and the biggest thing I saw that you needed was to have a variety of players. You can’t have a bunch of scorers. You need guys who can fit roles and there was no question, we had to have better play from our guards. That’s why I wanted to have the finest guards that we could get,” Robinson said.

Robinson, who repeated as the Vicksburg Post Coach of the Year after leading the Gators to a 22-11 record and a second straight trip to the Class 4A State Tournament, is excited to have Nobles and Canaan. Nobles led Callaway to both the 4A and the Grand Slam overall state titles as a starting point guard. Canaan led Biloxi to the 5A title.

“Canaan is a super player who can do it all and having played against Nobles four times this year, I know what he can do. I feel we can hit the ground running with him running the show,” Robinson said.

Mississippi will have two other standout guards in Division I signees Billy Hamilton of Taylorsville and St. Stanislaus star Pedro Maciel, an exchange student from Brazil who signed with Southern Miss. Hamilton, the state’s top scorer, signed a baseball scholarship with Mississippi State.

“I’ve seen Maciel’s make-up and his coach, Jay Ladner, will be my assistant. It’ll be a fun week,” Robinson said, with a laugh. Ladner’s Rock-a-chaws eliminated Robinson’s Gators in the State 4A Tournament and also beat them 46-25 earlier in the year to win the annual Red Carpet Classic at VHS.

Mississippi will have size as well. Robinson added his own player, in 6-foot-7 senior Denzell Erves, to the roster.

“Denzell is one of the role players you need. He’s going to help us with his rebounding,” Robinson said.

Erves will be joined in the front court by Yazoo City’s Jonatavious Sutton, Provine’s Emery Kelly and Jim Hill’s Robert Farmer.

Noxubee County’s Shaunessy Smith is regarded as the state’s most talented player. At 6-6, he signed with Mississippi State as a shooting guard. The challenge for Robinson will be to put in an offense that can show off the players’ skills.

“Basically, I’m going to put in a simple motion offense and a fast break. You really want something easy and something that will let the kids play,” he said.

Alabama does not have quite the firepower they had last year, led by one of the nation’s top players and current Alabama freshman JaMychal Green. Jordan Swing, a 6-6 forward out of Vestavia Hills has signed early with Western Kentucky.

Warren Central’s Sha’Kayla Caples will be playing in the girls game.

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Contact Jeff Byrd at jbyrd@vicksburgpost.com.