Thursday, December 5, 2002
Last-minute rally spurns Patriots' upset hopes over 8-1 Pearl River
Wildcats trail for most of second half in 88-83 come-from-behind win

   PERKINSTON   Pearl River Community College pulled off a last-minute rally to
spurn Northwest Shoals' upset hopes here Tuesday in the Mississippi Gulf Coast Classic Tournament, taking an 88-83 come-from-behind victory to improve to 8-1 on
the season.
   The scrappy Patriots from Muscle Shoals, Ala., held on to a narrow lead for most of
the second half, but the Wildcats scored four unanswered points in the last 36 seconds of play to take the five-point victory.
   Pearl River smashed East Mississippi 84-59 in Monday's opening-round action and
most felt Northwest Shoals would be easy pickings for the Wildcats after the Patriots
were bombed 87-52 by host Mississippi Gulf Coast Monday night.
   NWS led 5-0 early, but PRCC answered with an 9-2 run, capped by a three-point
play by Yandell Brown of Eastman, Ga., with 16:22 left in the first half. The Pats kept it close and fought back to take a 22-20 edge when Johnathan Odom sank his first of two three-pointers with 10:30 left before intermission.
   Northwest Shoals built its lead to as much as 7   27-20   before PRCC blistered
the Patriots with a 16-2 run to go up 36-29 with 1:40 left in the half. The Pats finished the half with an 8-1 run to cut the Wildcats' lead to 39-37 at the intermission.
   NWS tied it up at 53-53 with 14:00 left in the game, then Odom sank his second trey to put the Patriots up by 3. Northwest Shoals hung on to a narrow lead for the next 12 minutes, but point guard Kitt Jones of Forrest County AHS pulled off a three-point play to make it 81-79 with 2:30 left. 
   Odom answered by sinking to foul shots to tie it up at 81-81, then Tim Kelly hit a
bucket with 1:10 left to give NWS its last lead of the game at 83-82.
   Ray Selvage of Baton Rouge pulled off a three-point play with 36 seconds left, then
Carlos Cole and Keesler Johnson, both of Hattiesburg High, ended the scoring sinking
four free throws.
   Brown finished the contest with a game-high 28 points, including 3 treys, 7
rebounds, and 4 assists; while Selvage added 14 and grabbed a game-high 8 boards.
Jeremy Bragg of Baton Rouge and Keesler Johnson of Hattiesburg High, 9 each; James Ball of Hattiesburg High 8, Justin Miller of North Forrest 7, Jonathan Williams
of Stone County 3 (1 trey), Alvin Smith of Forrest County AHS and Carlos Cole of Hattiesburg High, 2 each; and Renard Elzy of Bay High 1.
   Odom paced the Patriots with 20 points, while Jeremy Sampson added 17,
including 3 treys. Harold Lewis scored 13 (2 treys, 4 assists), Tim Kelly 8 (1 trey), Caleb Beach 5 (5 rebounds), Daniel Fletcher 5 (1 trey), Brooks Thomas, Corey Hardy, and Phillip Watts, 4 a piece; and Ike Dales 3.
   From the foul line, PRCC was 25 of 42 (59.5 percent), while NWS was 18 of 27
(66.7 percent).
   The Wildcats shot 49.1 percent (28 of 57) from the field, while the Patriots hit a 47.5
percentile (28 of 59). NWS hit 36 percent (9 of 25) from three-point range, while PRCC hit 38.5 percent (5 of 13).
   Following the Thanksgiving holidays, PRCC returns to action Thursday, Dec. 5,
when it opens its women's and men's South Division schedules against East Central
in Decatur (women 6 p.m., men 8 p.m.).