By Maurice Singleton/Sports Writer

JACKSON — Biloxi’s season and Seber Windham’s career as head coach came to an end in the semifinal round of the 7A state tournament, as Starkville (28-3) held off two second half Indian surges on its way to a 37-27 win on Tuesday night.

Biloxi trailed 21-12 at halftime, but the Indians would go on a 9-2 run to open the third quarter to pull within two of the Yellowjackets at 23-21 midway through the period. But Starkville would respond, closing out the quarter on a 6-0 run.

Then in the fourth quarter, Biloxi went on a 5-0 run as Jakylen Edwards sank a pair of free throws and Sevaun George sank a three-pointer from the left wing to pull the Indians within three at 29-26 with just over six minutes remaining in the game.

But from there, Biloxi’s offense experienced a drought as Starkville closed out the game on an 8-1 run, giving up only a single free throw in the last six minutes.

“Starkville showed why they’re the number one team in the state,” said Windham. “They showed their composure down the stretch. They’ve got one of the best coaches in state. He does a hell of a job. He’s won multiple state championships.

“But I couldn’t be more proud of my kids,” said Windham. “My kids just kept on fighting although things weren’t going our way. Kept fighting, kept fighting, kept hanging around. But when you hang around, you’ve got to make a play. And we just didn’t make enough plays at the end like we did in the Meridian game.”

Biloxi opened the game’s scoring on a Carnellous Lenard three-pointer. Edwards would score on a layup to give the Indians a 5-2 lead with five minutes to play in the opening quarter. Biloxi would hold the lead until just over two minutes remaining in the period when Starkville’s Terrell Warren sank a pair of free throws to give the Yellowjackets the lead at 6-5. And they would hold onto the lead the rest of the way.

Kentrell Beasley would sink a three-pointer just before the buzzer to end five-minute scoring drought for Biloxi to close the first quarter with the Indians trailing 10-8.

Starkville opened the second quarter on a 6-0 run before Beasley sank a three-pointer with just over five minutes to play in the quarter. And the Indians would only score a single point in the quarter after that as Elvenis Davis sank the first of two free throws with eight ticks on the clock before halftime.

A look at the overall scoring in the second half was kind of telling as Starkville outscored Biloxi by a single point after intermission (16-15). The second quarter scoring drought (4 points) was too much for the Indians to overcome.

Beasley led the Indians’ scoring with 12 points. Tyreq Hendrix and Ladanuel Jordan led the Yellowjackets with 10 points apiece. Jerwan McCarter added 9 points.

Starkville advances to the 7A state championship against Germantown at 8:00 o’clock on Friday.