By Robert Wilson
In a rare battle between the two winningest boys basketball coaches in Mississippi history, the No. 1 player in the country in the Class of 2028 made plenty of big plays to help decide the winner.
Madison-Ridgeland Academy coach Richard Duease – the winningest basketball coach in Mississippi history and the second winningest active boys basketball coach in the country – started his 50thseason and first-year Central Hinds Academy coach James Crain – second only to Duease in boys basketball wins in Mississippi history – is in his 40th season.
And MRA’s 6-foot-10 freshman center EJ Dampier – son of former Mississippi State and NBA star Erick Dampier and the top-rated player in the country in his age group – had 15 points, 16 rebounds, 5 blocked shots and altered many more in a 52-45 MRA victory over Central Hinds before an estimated 350 at Central Hinds’ gym.
The 72-year-old Duease won his 1,835th game (1,243 boys and 572 girls) with 710 losses, a 72.1 winning percentage (73.9 boys and 67.9 girls) with 41 state championships and 15 MAIS Overall Tournament titles (12 boys and three girls) in his career. He has won 1,195 boys and 439 girls games in 43 seasons at MRA.
The 70-year-old Crain has 1,038 victories. He passed Ingomar’s Norris Ashley, who had 1,023 wins from 1969-2012. Crain won his first Overall championship in 2020 with Simpson and retired until this season. He has won nine state championships in his 40 seasons, 23 years at Mendenhall (two state championships), six at Hillcrest Christian (three state titles), and 10 at Simpson (four state titles).
The last time Duease and Crain played each other was in the 2020 Overall semifinals and Crain, then at Simpson, won 73-53 over MRA and Josh Hubbard, then a junior.
Duease came out on top Tuesday with the help of Dampier.
The game was tied at 39-39 with 4 minutes to play, but MRA went on a 13-6 run to close out the win. Dampier had his second dunk with 3 minutes to play to give MRA a 46-40 lead.
But early on, Central Hinds was rolling. The Cougars jumped out to a 17-6 lead with 1:31 to play to play in the first quarter when 6-6 senior Wesley Lindsey scored 14 points, including 4 for 4 from 3-point range. He hit his fifth 3-pointer of the first half with 25 seconds to play to give Central Hinds a 27-25 lead.
Lindsey, who received his first Division I offer from Southern Miss last week, finished with a season-high 25 points. He made 5 of 9 from 3-point range.
“Central Hinds has a nice team and I think they can win the state in their league,” said Duease, who was inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame this summer. “Wesley is a good player, and they are not a one-man show. It was a good win, but we’ve got to do better next time. We need to get better in many areas. We need to start getting EJ the ball a little bit more so he can score. We’ve got some guys who haven’t played varsity so they will get better as the year goes along. They better, we are playing a rough schedule.”
Dampier is one of three returning starters from last year’s team, which won its first 24 games last season and finished 33-6 and Overall runner-up. Dampier averaged 10.1 points, 9.8 rebounds and 1.9 blocked shots as an eighth grader last season. He tied his career high of four blocked shots Tuesday.
“Dampier is twice as good as he was last year,” Duease said. “He was invited to the USA Trials and there were 40 of the top players in the Class of 2027 and 40 of the top players in the Class of 2028, picked by NBA and college coaches. Dampier finished third among the 80 and was the first center and the other two players were from the 2027 group.”
In addition to Dampier, senior guard Jas Smith and junior guard Will Bizot (currently playing wide receiver on MRA’s football team) are back. Smith averaged 10.4 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2 assists and Bizot, son of former high school and junior college basketball coach and current Mississippi College athletic director Kenny Bizot, averaged 10.3 points, 3 rebounds and shot 42 percent from 3-point range. Smith had 15 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists and did a solid defensive job on Lindsey in the second quarter until he got into foul trouble.
Jack Pentecost, a 6-3 senior forward, had 10 points and four rebounds.
Central Hinds lost its third straight game this season and dropped to 0-3. The other two losses were to MHSAA Class 1A Bogue Chitto and MAIS Class 5A Brookhaven Academy.
In addition to Lindsey, 6-foot senior point guard Foil is a returning starter. He scored 10 points Tuesday. Also, Crain has two new players in 6-6 senior forward Cooper Lofton, who transferred from Clinton Christian Academy, and 6-2 senior guard Tyler Flynt, who played at Simpson as a sophomore for Crain’s son, Carey, before moving to Pensacola last year and moved back and enrolled at Central Hinds. Flynt’s older brother, Josh, played at Crain at Simpson and is now Crain’s assistant coach. Flynt had seven points Tuesday.
“We got off to a great start, but we didn’t score much in the second quarter, but we came back and made it tight midway through the fourth quarter before MRA pulled away,” Crain said. “We have just gotten our football players back and we are still learning how to play.”
MRA GIRLS 54, CENTRAL HINDS 33
Senior guard Allie Redding scored eight points in the first five minutes to ignite the Lady Patriots to their win over the Lady Cougars.
MRA, the 2024 Overall runner-up, won its second straight game and improved to 3-2. Defending MAIS Class 4A state champion and 2024 Overall semifinalist Central Hinds dropped to 2-3.
Redding made the winning shot with 14 seconds to play in MRA’s 44-43 win over Central Hinds last week at Raymond.
MRA led 17-9 after one quarter and 28-17 at halftime Tuesday.
Anna Morgan Anderson, a 5-8 sophomore guard and member of the Tatum and Wade/Mississippi Scoreboard Preseason Metro Jackson Elite 11 Team, led MRA with nine points. Redding, 5-11 junior forward Annie Toler, 6-1 senior forward Fallon Humphries, a University of North Florida volleyball commitment, and junior Gabby Gray, a transfer from Madison St. Joseph, had eight points each. Redding and 6-foot junior guard Presley Hughes led with six rebounds. Hughes also led with four assists and three blocked shots. Anderson had two steals.
“We came out and played more aggressive and our girls were feeling more comfortable with each other than we had in our other games,” said MRA coach Stephen Force, who won his 749th. career game in his 29th season, 609 wins in 23 seasons at MRA, and three Overall championships.
Senior guard Stella Havard led Central Hinds with 13 points.
