Madison Central hosts summer basketball league
Madison Central hosted the opening night of its boys’ basketball summer league on Monday, featuring some of the top teams from in and around Madison County.
The Jaguars took victories over Pearl and Brandon on the opening night, with its matchup against Brandon being a rematch of the MHSAA 7A semifinals from just four months ago.
Opening night action also featured some of the area’s other top programs including Ridgeland, Lanier, Callaway, Leake Central, and Vicksburg playing throughout the day’s action.
“June is all about improvement and creating that family that you want to build within your program,” Madison Central Head Coach Ben Gardner said. “We are going to play in camps this summer, but playing here also allows us to build that home culture and wear off that new team feel.”
The Jaguars finished as the state runner-up in 7A last season and lost multiple key seniors from last season’s squad. With new faces poised to play big minutes for Madison Central this season, the summer league will allow these players to build chemistry and improve together in preparation for next season.
“We definitely have some great players to replace that were a part of our run to the state championship last year,” Gardner said. “We’ve got a great junior class, we are really excited about that group because we are basically going to have the same team for the next two years.”
There will be plenty of competition coming into Madison Central in the coming weeks as well. Standout games on next week’s slate include two Madison County matchups, with Ridgeland taking on both Germantown and Madison Central. Germantown will also play Leake Central and Madison Central will round out the night with a game against Vicksburg.
On June 23rd, Ridgeland will take on Yazoo City and Leake Central, while Madison Central will play Neshoba Central and Callaway. To round out the action on June 30th, Madison Central will match up with Terry and Northwest Rankin.
“I just want to make sure that we bring the best competition in here that we possibly can,” Gardner said. “We want to play the best of the best and prepare ourselves in the best way possible for next season.”
The summer league will be every Monday in June at Madison Central, with games starting at 1 PM and the last game of the day starting at 8 PM. Admission is five dollars for a full day of basketball action.