By Robert Wilson
Madison-Ridgeland Academy’s Richard Duease – the winningest high school basketball coach in Mississippi history – finished his remarkable career on top of the mountain Tuesday night and a player who is as tall as a mountain helped Duease get there.
Duease won his final game in his 51st season, the last 44 at MRA, with a 65-53 victory as the tallest player of his coaching career – 6-foot-10 sophomore center EJ Dampier – led the way with 25 points, 12 rebounds and 8 blocked shots in a 65-53 victory over Jackson Academy in the MAIS Overall Tournament boys championship before an estimated 2,500 at Mississippi College’s A.E. Wood Coliseum/Mike Jones Court in Clinton.
The 74-year-old Indianola High, Mississippi Delta Community College and Mississippi State graduate finished his career with 1,888 wins (1,296 boys and 592 girls) with 725 losses, a 72.3 winning percentage, with 42 state championships and 16 MAIS Overall Tournament titles (14 boys and two girls) in his career. He has won 1,248 boys and 439 girls games at MRA.
Tuesday was Duease’s first Overall title since 2021, the longest drought for him since the six years without an Overall from 1999 to 2005. He won an amazing 10 titles in a 14 year span from 2005 to 2018.
Class 4A, Division I champion MRA – ranked No. 2 in Mississippi and No. 1 among MAIS Class 4A teams by MaxPreps – improved to 36-2, won its 19th game in a row and defeated JA in both meetings this season. MRA defeated JA 66-55 Dec. 2 at MRA in the only regular season meeting this year. The other regular season game at JA was cancelled because of the winter storm.
MRA’s only two losses are to MHSAA Class 5A Columbus High, ranked No. 5 in Mississippi, and Zachary High, the No. 1 rated team in Louisiana by MaxPreps.
MRA made a tremendous improvement from last season when it finished 17-13 – the first time Duease had not won 20 games in 41 years – and lost in the first round of the MAIS Class 6A state tournament.
Class 4A, Division II champion JA – ranked No. 20 in Mississippi and No. 3 in MAIS by MaxPreps – finished 23-11 and played in its third consecutive Overall championship game. JA won the Overall title in 2024 and lost to Jackson Prep last season.
There was a lot of attention focused on Duease Tuesday night, but he kept his focus on his team.
“It was a special night,” Duease said. “I’m a competitive guy and there were a lot of people there to see me, but I was concentrating on our team. I give credit to my guys. They played well all year long. This is the best record I have ever had in boys. Our guys came to play every night. EJ was special and is so much better than last year and had a great game last night. He was making these 6 or 7 foot hook shots, short jumpers and I don’t know how many dunks he had. Our guys did a better job of reversing the ball and creating one on one opportunities for him. And Zavian (Carr, who replaced starting point guard Evan Carr, who had jaw surgery last week) had his best game of the season. I was very proud of him. He started when Evan was playing football and took a role coming off the bench and has been starting since Evan got hurt. Zavian stepped it up last night and got to the rim quick. The key to our success was guarding the other team and we maintained that. After we went up by 20, we got a little relaxed and they made a few shots but we kept the lead. It was a relief when it was over. We have had such a great year. Seeing the guys make a goal for themselves and reaching it was special. They were trying to win it for me. I’m very appreciate of that.”
Dampier – a member of the Team USA 16-under team, the No. 3 ranked player in the country in the Class of 2028 by ESPN, and the son of former Mississippi State and NBA star Erick Dampier, now an assistant coach at MRA – had an outstanding game. He made 12 of 14 shots from the field, and had 4 assists and 1 steal to go along with his 25 points, 12 rebounds and 8 blocked shots. Dampier made his presence felt in the first minute when senior guard Will Bizot threw a high pass to Dampier, who finished off the alley-oop play with a two-handed dunk.
Dampier averaged 18.3 points, 15.8 rebounds, and 6.3 blocked shots and shot 76.1 percent from the field in the four tournament games.
In addition to Dampier, Carr had 13 points (5 of 6 from the field, 1 of 2 from 3-point range), and six assists, sophomore guard Caeden Harvey had 10 points, 6 rebounds and 1 assist, Bizot had 8 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds and 3 steals, and junior guard Jack Dalton had 7 points, 6 assists and 2 steals.
MRA – which shot 65.2 percent from the field and had 24 assists in 30 made baskets – led 16-10 after one quarter, 25-17 at halftime and 46-30 after three quarters.
“Coach Duease made sure that we were prepared and ready for what we needed to do,” Dampier said. “We all came into the game with a lot of energy and I think that helped us, too. Everyone wanted to win and that’s important. I feel great knowing that Coach Duease gets to go out the right way and also that we were able to show everyone how good we were after last year. Everyone on the team wanted it for him and I thought that was special.”
“That was a very hard fought victory as JA gave everything they had,” said Bizot, whose father, Kenny, is the athletic director at Mississippi College and coached Hillcrest Christian School to three Overall boys championships in 2000, 2002 and 2003. “After they cut the lead down to eight points, we knew that if we could take care of each possession, we would be able to win the game, and that is what we did. We played with a lot of emotion and we were so happy to be able to win for our school and Coach Duease. We are so thankful for all he’s done and I’m glad we got to send him off the right way with an Overall championship.”
Senior guard Marcus Goodloe led JA with 24 points. Junior guard Bryce Bolton had 9 points, 4 assists and 3 steals, senior guard DJ Washington had seven points and three steals off the bench, and 6-6 junior forward Austin Richards had 6 points, 11 rebounds and 2 blocked shots.
“Coach Duease had his team ready to go last night,” Duease said. “It was a great battle. It was MRA’s night. Our schedule was the toughest in JA history. I scheduled it that way because we graduated so much in the last two years we needed to throw our guys in the fire early and often. Our kids responded so well. Making to the Overall championship three years in a row in incredibly hard, but it is a testament to our senior leadership and our guys buying into what our staff preaches. I am so thankful to be a Raider. Our school is so deserving. Our kids finished out the season playing for their school and each other.”
