By Angie Ledbetter

There was a lot of excitement in the Batesville junior high gym Monday night as fans came to support the teams against Lafayette County in the season opener.

Not only were there new players, but a new face to the basketball coaching world. Artee Smith made his debut as head coach but he is no stranger to the kids. He grew up here and coaches football.

Smith got his first win with the seventh grade team when they defeated Lafayette County 28-25 in overtime.

    The seventh grade team had 12 players that battled with Lafayette to the end. Kamdon Edwards was the leading scorer with 8 points followed by Ryan Lee with 4. Anthony Benson hit a three in overtime to win the game.

The eighth grade team won 29-21. The leading scorer was Jae Bibbs with 14 points. Other scorers include Tydrekus Bradford, 7 points; Quandez Lee, 6 and Keenan Hentz, 2.

Smith said he felt pretty good about his first two wins as head coach.

“We moved the ball around a lot but we’re a lot better than we played. We’ve got a lot of work to get done between now and the next game.”

This is Smith’s first stint as a head coach of any sport.

“I enjoyed it tonight,” said Smith. “It was pretty exciting and something new. I’ve got a great bunch of kids. They’re very athletic and a lot of them play two or three sports so it doesn’t make my job hard at all. I’m trying to stay with the fundamentals of dribbling, passing and shooting. These kids see a lot of stuff on television and they get caught up in it but don’t realize those guys work for years to get where they are.”

Batesville Jr. High returns to action in the Tupelo Tournament tomorrow. The tournament is for boys only and begins at 9 a.m. The Tigers will be home Monday and Thursday to host Senatobia and Oxford, respectively at 5 each night. These are the final games before the Thanksgiving holidays.