McComb head coach Hilton Harrell and junior big man Mitch Thompson agreed, the Tigers were able to handle Port Gibson’s 7-footer Jamarious Sykes.
The Tigers won 64-47 in the opener of District 6-4A for the two teams.
The differing views come on which dunk of the night was the best.
Harrell said his favorite was Thompson’s alley-oop off an inbound pass.
“We finally threw it perfect,” Harrell said.
It happened at the end of the third quarter from the baseline on the inbound play. Thompson caught the ball in mid-jump coming down the lane and slammed it home with a little swing on the rim from his momentum.
Thompson almost gave the thumbs up to the oop, but caught himself.
Midway through the third quarter, Thompson outpositioned Sykes on a rebound, got the ball and went right back up for the slam. Sykes got his hand up, but that was about all the defense he mustered as the home crowd cheered Thompson’s posterizing of the 7-footer.
Thompson finished with 21 points and 11 rebounds. Sykes finished with seven points and 14 rebounds, as well as eight blocks.
With the rarity of playing a 7-footer, Harrell was pleased with the performance his team put out on Tuesday night.
“It’s a big adjustment,” Harrell said. “You don’t see a 7-footer every day in practice.”
The Tigers tried to keep Sykes from getting involved by getting into a transition game as quick as they could. When the Tigers were in a half-court set it came down to making moves and not playing into Sykes’ strengths.
“We had to keep him on his toes and his heels,” Harrell said of making Sykes run the floor and attacking him in the halfcourt.
With the game safely tucked away in the fourth, McComb was up 20 after the first shot of the quarter and put on a show in transition.
Tim Martin threw down a dunk on a fast break, only to follow it up with another that brought the decibel level up a little more.
Sykes missed a dunk for the second time in the game, and McComb’s outlet pass found Martin waiting to go up again. While there wasn’t the traffic Sykes had, Martin showed the big man how to throw it down.
Martin added a jumper to score six straight for the Tigers, who cruised from there on out with the bench getting some fresh guards into the game.
MCCOMB 57, PORT GIBSON 36
The McComb girls team also beat the Blue Waves in their district opener.
Portia Craft put the Tigers out in front early with her rebounding and 3-point shooting. Craft hit three treys in the first half and finished with 15 points. Craft also grabbed seven boards to get McComb some second chances that helped build a 12-point halftime lead.
Shenequia Bibbs added 16 points for McComb, while April Johnson finished with 10.
The Tigers will resume district play on Friday when they host rival Brookhaven.
