By By Austin Bishop
JAN. 13, 2001
Desperate times can lead to desperate measures.
In an effort to encourage his team to snap a seven-game losing streak, Lamar School boys' head basketball coach Todd Yates decided to mix things up.
Before the game he had each of his players take off their jerseys and put them in a pile in the dressing room floor.
Then he gave each player someone else's jersey to wear in the game, to show that no one player was more important than any other.
It worked.
His Raiders blew past Division 3-AAA foe Copiah Academy a team that had already beaten them twice this year by the score of 66-30 to move to 6-13 on the year and more importantly, to 2-2 in division play.
Copiah jumped out to a big halftime lead in the girls game and held on for a 45-28 lead.
The Lamar boys and girls play host to Jackson Prep tonight, with the varsity girls game expected to start at 4 p.m.
Senior sharpshooter Dusty Jones had a hot hand for the Raiders in the first half as they jumped out to an amazing 39-12 lead against the visiting Colonels, who were playing without their best player.
Jones knocked down six 3-pointers in the first half, including buzzer-beaters at the end of the first and second quarters. He had 20 of his 22 points in the first half.
Jones and Jared McKee accounted for 37 of Lamar's 39 first-half points. McKee finished the game with 27 points, including 13-for-19 shooting from the free throw line. He also had 15 rebounds. Jones had 10 rebounds and five blocked shots.
But neither one of those guys was the leading rebounder on the night, as Sam Eakes pulled down 20 boards for the Raiders.
Lamar outrebounded Copiah 53-24.
The win was a big one for the Raiders, because it put them in third-place in the four-team district and means Lamar will not have to play league-leader Manchester in the the first round of the division tournament, which will be played at Lamar.
The Raiders were up 17-4 at the end of the first quarter, before outscoring CA 22-8 in the second quarter and 17-6 in the third to go up 56-18 going into the last quarter of play.
Copiah Girls 45, Lamar 28: After falling behind early, the Lady Raiders made a couple of runs at Copiah, but the Lady Colonels were able to hold on for the win.
Copiah was up 16-6 at the end of the first quarter and 28-12 at the half, before taking a 37-14 lead after three quarters of play.
Myleia Shirley hit a trio of 3-pointers to lead Lamar with 13 points, while Libby Huff scored nine.
Austin Bishop is a sports correspondent for The Meridian Star. E-mail him at bishops@mississippi.net.