Biloxi hosts Jackie Laird Tournament Friday, Saturday
Biloxi High School will host its annual Jackie Laird Christmas Tournament with three boys basketball games set for Friday and Saturday.
Biloxi will play the late game both days with an 8 p.m. contest against Moss Point on Friday and a 4 p.m. bout with D'Iberville on Saturday.
Biloxi (7-3) had its top player return recently with junior forward Fred Ramsey-Thompson recovering from a broken jaw he suffered during preseason workouts.
Ramsey-Thompson has played in the last three games for the Indians.
"Fred is in terrible shape," Biloxi coach Seber Windham said. "He's been out seven weeks and we're trying to get him back in shape. We feel like by the middle of January he'll be able to do some things."
It's been an up and down season at times for the Indians, but Windham is encouraged by the direction of his team.
"We're working on a lot of things," Windham said. "We're trying to get in a rhythm."
Senior guard Jadarius Holloway has been Biloxi's top scorer with an average of 13 points a game.
Harrison Central transfer Jordan Lewis has been an important addition to the team, contributing 11.6 points a game.
With Lewis joining the team at the start of the school year and Ramsey-Thompson missing so much time, the Indians are still getting used to each other.
"We're trying to get in a rhythm," Windham said. "We haven't had a summer where we played 28-30 games like other teams where you've got that cohesion. We're trying to work on that right now. We've got to develop things with Fred and Jordan.
"I see some good things. We've lost three games by a total of four points. We're real close to being 10-0. Two of those games, against West Harrison and Pascagoula, we had the lead late. We're close to being a team team. By January, I feel like we can be a really good team."
The tournament starts at 5 p.m. Friday when Harrison Central takes on D'Iberville in Biloxi's gymnasium. Oak Grove and Murphy (Mobile) will play at 6:30 p.m.
Harrison Central will play Murphy at 1 p.m. on Saturday and Oak Grove-Moss Point will follow at 2:30 p.m.
This story was originally published December 17, 2015 at 5:25 PM with the headline "Biloxi hosts Jackie Laird Tournament Friday, Saturday ."