Canton boys win back-to-back state titles
Canton boys basketball earned their second consecutive MHSAA 5A state championship on Friday night, beating rival Holmes County Central 53-35.
After starting slow and trailing 11-8 at the end of the first quarter, Canton was dominant through the rest of the game, outscoring Holmes County 42-27 in the final three quarters.
A major reason for that was the performance of senior guard TJ Hoskin, who scored 15 points and took home game MVP honors.
The performance of Hoskin, along with other members of the supporting cast around 5A Mr. Basketball Jamarion Davis-Fleming, was crucial, as Holmes County was putting almost all of their defensive focus on Davis-Fleming.
“Those guys stepped up big-time and that just shows how much our team has grown over the year,” Canton Head Coach Brian Townsend said. “With those guys stepping up the way that they did, it was due time for them to have a breakout game.”
Davis-Fleming finishes his high school career as one of the most decorated players in Canton basketball history, winning back-to-back state titles and Mr. Basketball awards, and will now head to play at Mississippi State next season.
“Canton basketball changed my life, it helped me change my body and my skill set,” Davis-Fleming said. “I helped me become and winner and get ready to head down to a winning program at Mississippi State.”
Canton also received a spark from junior Jayden Cration, who threw down multiple huge dunks to give the Tigers momentum and fueled a huge crowd from Canton that packed the Mississippi Coliseum. Cration is a four-star recruit on the gridiron and currently holds football offers as a wide receiver from Mississippi State and Ole Miss.
“Jayden Cration has been doing that all year for us,” Townsend said. “He provides a spark for us whenever we need it.”
Winning one state title is impressive and difficult enough, but to do it twice and go back-to-back is as hard of a task as there is. After starting the season 2-6, Canton found their motivation and was able to get back to the top of the mountain in 5A.
“At the beginning of the year, everybody laughed at us everytime we lost,” Townsend said. “I made sure that we kept that in the back of our head, so we kept that hunger and we fed off of that.”
Canton finishes their season with a 22-10 record and accomplished the goal that they set out to accomplish, winning back-to-back state championships. It is the third state title in program history, with the other coming in 1997.