Given their performance at the Mississippi State basketball camp and the Jackson Summer League, the Vicksburg Gators appear to be contenders again next winter for the Class 6A crown.

Veteran coach Dellie C. Robinson said despite the loss of two-time Player of the Year Kelsey Howard and two other starters, the Gators have shown a lot of firepower this summer. In the championship game of the MSU camp the Gators beat Meridian, a team that finished last season as the Class 6A runner-up and has all five starters returning. Among them is Rodney Hood, one of the top players in Mississippi.

“For 18 years, I’ve taken a team to that camp but this is the first time we won it,” Robinson said. “They (Meridian) have a great team, especially with Hood and the other guys coming back. But we’re pretty good, too. Our JV guys have only lost three games over the last two years and they have moved up.”

Two of those former JV players, Josh Gaskin and Rashad Gaines, are playing well for the Gators’ varsity this summer. They’ve settled into the regular rotation after coming off the bench last season.

“Rashad Gaines has played really well and he’s taken over Kevin Brown’s spot at the two-guard. Gaskin has helped us inside and will take over for Chris Miller,” Robinson said. “Then we also have Kienta Ross back. Kienta was a big sparkplug for us last year, coming off the bench. He runs the floor well and plays hard. I think between the three of them, they can take up the slack left by Kelsey. We also have Willie Gibbs, who has come on along with Avery Grays and Cameron Cooksey.”

Howard, a 6-foot-4 guard, led the Gators to a 25-4 record and the Class 6A quarterfinals with a 20.4 scoring average. He signed with Jackson State in late May but has not yet been cleared by the NCAA Clearinghouse.

“He is enrolled in summer school here at JSU and is awaiting the NCAA Clearinghouse,” JSU assistant coach Eric Strothers said in an e-mail this week.

Robinson believes Howard can be an asset for Jackson State next season if his eligibility issues are sorted out.

“Kelsey went ahead and signed with Jackson State even though he hadn’t yet passed his ACT. He has taken it again this month and is already in school at Jackson State,” Robinson said. “I think if he can get eligible, he will be able to come off the bench and provide Jackson State with a scorer.”

While Howard is gone, his main Gator sidekick and Vicksburg Post co-Player of the Year Mychal Ammons is back. Ammons averaged 19 points and 9.4 rebounds last season.

Ammons, who will play in the Mississippi Association of Coaches All-Star game next Saturday at Mississippi College, recently returned from playing in the Nike AAU Invitational in Los Angeles.

Internet posts have the 6-foot-6 Ammons liking Atlantic Coast Conference schools Georgia Tech and Clemson as his top collegiate destinations, but he could only shake his head at that thought.

“Really?” he said.

What he is confident about is the play of his Gators.

“We have a good team. We’ve played well this summer. We won the team camp at Mississippi State and we’ve done well in the Jackson league,” Ammons said.

Along with Ammons, the Gators also have starting point guard Dominique Brown back. Brown became the team’s third-leading scorer behind Ammons and Howard and was selected to the Post’s All-County team.

“With what we have, we are going to be a tough team to deal with,” Robinson said.