Friday, February 28, 2003
Wildcats win MACJC championship with 92-83 win over Northwest
PRCC men rally in second half to earn third title under Mathis

     WESSON   Pearl River Community College won its third MACJC men's
basketball championship in eight years here Thursday, as the Wildcats pulled off a
thrilling second-half rally to take a 92-83 see-saw victory over the Northwest Rangers.
     The title marked the fourth in history for the Wildcats and the fifth state
championship in 13-year head coach Richard Mathis's career.
     Mathis is no stranger to Ranger basketball. His 1997 Wildcats fell 116-113 to
Northwest in triple overtime in Poplarville for the prestigious title, but his 1998 group
returned the favor the following year in Senatobia and dumped the host Rangers 91-86
for the championship.
     "All championships are nice, but this one is especially sweet," said Mathis, who
has also won a women's title at East Mississippi and a men's title at Northeast
Mississippi. "Back at the start of the year, I wasn't so sure about this group's ability
to go all the way. I knew they were very athletic, but we just couldn't shoot.
     "But they worked their tails off and have proved to me that they are a bunch
of achievers that pulled together for a common goal."
     It was a battle of surges. The Wildcats jumped out to a shocking 16-2 lead with
just over three minutes gone in the contest only to see the Rangers bounce back with a 20-5 run to go up 22-21 with 12 minutes left before the intermission. Seven minutes later, Ray Selvage of Baton Rouge sank a pair of free throws to tie it up at 31-31 with 4:55 left, but Northwest ended the half with an impressive 11-6 run to grab a 42-37 halftime lead.
     Mathis said his talented team "became too hyped too early.
     "We're the kind of team that can start a game with lots of energy on both sides
of the ball, but we can't sustain that level very long," he said. "Besides, Northwest is an excellent basketball team and I knew they were going to make a run on us."
     PRCC's Justin Miller of North Forrest hit the opening bucket of the second half,
then teammate Yandell Brown of Eastman, Ga., hit one of his two treys on the night
to tie at 42-42 with less than a minute gone, but Northwest's Marcus Avant immediately answered with a three pointer to regain the lead.
     Avant's trey kick started a 31-17 run by the Rangers to build their largest lead of
the night   73-59   with 8:55 left. Three minutes later, Brown capped a 14-zip run to
tie it up at 73-73. Carlos Cole of Hattiesburg High scored seven straight unanswered
points during the spurt, including one trey.
     "Coach (Don) Skelton (NWCC coach) said Carlos did the most damage at the end
when it counted," Mathis said.
     The score was deadlocked two more times over the next minute   the last time
when James Ball of Hattiesburg High hit a bucket to tie at 77-77, then followed with a
pair of free throws to put PRCC up for good.
     Brown scored four straight points to make it 83-77 with 1:10 left, but Northwest's
Trey Ivy scored his only points of the night when he pulled off a three-point play to pull
the Rangers within three with a minute left. But it was all over but the crying. Reggie
Gaddis hit the last of his four treys with 15 seconds left to end Northwest's scoring, then Selvage ended the game with four straight points.
     "We were able to turn it around in the second half. We had put together a zone
to defend their outside shooters better, but they were so successful on their put backs...it was killing us," Mathis said. "Finally in the second half, I just told them everybody had to do their part...they had to do the best they could with their man.
     "That seemingly turned it around."
     Brown paced the Wildcats with a game-high 31 points   20 in the second half.
The sophomore point was 10 of 16 from the field and hit two treys, while hauling hin
eight rebounds. Selvage scored 16 and grabbed a game-high 16 boards, while going five of six from the foul line and blocking a game-high four shots.. Cole added 12 (one trey, five rebounds), Miller and Jeremy Bragg (one trey) of Baton Rouge, nine each; Ball seven, and Keesler Johnson (one trey) of Hattiesburg High and Kitt Jones of Forrest County AHS, three each.
     Antonio Shaw paced the Rangers with 17, while Gaddis added 16 (four treys),
Avant 13 (2 treys), Preston Dennis nine, Marcus Harris eight (2 treys), Jason Dunn
six (one trey), Anthony Hankins and Michael Tucker, four each; and Durrell Davis(one trey) and Ivy three each.
     At the foul line, PRCC hit 74 percent (29 of 39), while hitting 49 percent (29 of 59)
from the field, including an amazing 66 percent (19 of 29) in the second half. From three-point range, the Wildcats were five of 17 (29 percent).
     Northwest hit 11 of 15 (73 percent) of its foul shots and sank 31 of 73 attempts (43
percent) from the field. The Rangers hit 10 of its 30 (33 percent) three-point attempts.
     "This team plays as a team," Mathis concluded. "Yandell's going to do his part
each and every game, but when it gets down to crunch time, we've had guys that
stepped to the front.
     "Keesler Johnson did it in the semi-final win over Itawamba. Bragg. Ball, Cole, and
Selvage did it tonight."
     Mathis also cited Miller for his consistent play all year long.
     "Justin's a huge key to our success. He's not some big-time star kind of guy...he's
just steady as a rock and can play solidly through all kinds of adversity...including
injuries."
     In the women's championship game, defending state and Region XXIII champ
Copiah-Lincoln pulled off a 67-65 win over scrappy Southwest after the undefeated (27-0) and No. 3-ranked Lady Wolves trailed for practically the entire game. Co-Lin went up 66-65 with 1:14 left in the game for its first lead of the game.
     The Lady Wolves eliminated PRCC's women 69-54 in Wednesday's semi-finals
Wednesday.
     Pearl River's women and men will enter their respective Region XXIII
Tournaments at Mississippi College in Clinton which starts Monday and concludes next Thursday.