MSU's Varnado And Turner Help Lead Score Hoops Team To 5-0 Mark
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Mississippi State's Jarvis Varnado and Phil Turner recently helped lead the SCORE International basketball team to a perfect 5-0 record during the club's week-long goodwill tour of Argentina.
Varnado, a rising sophomore forward/center from Brownsville, Tenn., averaged 12.2 points during last week's overseas tour in addition to leading the SCORE club in rebounding (7.8 rpg) and blocks (4.2 bpg). He capped the trip by posting his second double-double with 22 points, 10 rebounds and seven blocks in the team's 93-80 victory over Club Argentina this past weekend. Varnado also totaled 17 points, 11 boards and four rejects in a winning effort against Ramos Mejia earlier in the week.
Turner, a redshirt freshman guard for coach Rick Stansbury's Bulldogs, ranked as SCORE's third-leading scorer and third-best playmaker while averaging 13.0 points and 2.6 assists during the tour. The former Grenada High School standout also averaged 3.2 rebounds in Argentina. Turner posted the highest single-game scoring effort of the tour with 26 points, including3-of-5 three-point accuracy, in the 112-99 victory over the Huracan de San Justo squad. He also tallied 15 points versus Ramos Mejia.
Guided by Decatur (Ala.) Heritage Christian Academy head basketball coach Tommy Kyle, this year's nine-man SCORE International squad also consisted of SEC standouts Jermaine Beal and JeJuan Brown of Vanderbilt, the South Carolina trio of Chad Gray, Bryce Sheldon and Mitchell Carter, and David Huertas of Ole Miss, along with Clemson's David Potter. The squad played five games in five days (May 8-12) against professional club teams based in Argentina, including four contests played in the capital city of Buenos Aires.
The 6-foot-9, 195-pound Varnado averaged 5.0 points, including 65 percent field-goal shooting, and 4.2 rebounds per game as a true freshman for the 21-14 Bulldogs this past season. Finishing fifth overall in the SEC in blocked shots (1.9 bpg), he broke Erick Dampier's previous freshman school record with 67 blocks a year ago.