Friday, January 30, 2009

River swept in ‘Cat Fight
Wildcats, Lady Wildcats suffer MACJC South Division road losses versus Jones County Thursday in Ellisville

     ELLISVILLE — Pearl River Community College was swept by arch-rival Jones County in men’s and women’s MACJC South Division basketball action here Thursday.
      The Wildcats saw the 22nd-ranked Bobcats rally in the second half to take a 100-92 victory behind an amazing 45-point effort from Trenton Marshall, while the Lady Wildcats fell 82-50.
      PRCC’s men dropped to 13-6 overall and 4-3 in division play, while its women are now 1-17 and 1-6. JCJC’s men improved to 17-2 and a perfect division-leading 7-0, while its women are now 14-5 and 5-2.
      The Wildcat squad is now tied with Copiah-Lincoln for third place in the men’s division derby behind 5-2 Mississippi Gulf Coast and Jones. The Lady Wildcats are tied for last place with Hinds on the women’s side at 1-6, setting the stage for Monday’s match-up between the two cellar dwellers.
      Jones swept Pearl River in both teams Dec. 8 division openers in Poplarville with the men winning 90-83 and the women 92-63.
      In the men’s game, Marshall scored 33 points in the in the second half as the Bobcats rallied from a 43-40 deficit at the intermission. JCJC held PRCC scoreless for the first five minutes of the second half to take control with Marshall sinking a pair of foul shots with 15:09 left to lift the hosts to a 51-44 lead.
      The Wildcats answered with a 6-2 run with Nick Johnson of Uniontown, Ala., hit a trey are the 14:32 mark to cap the surge and cut the Bobcats’ lead to 53-50, but was as close as PRCC would get.
      Jones outscored Pearl River 25-12 over the next five-and-a-half minutes.
      The Bobcats grabbed their biggest lead of the game in the final four minutes when Marshall’s slam dunk pumped the lead to 20 — 92-72 — but the Wildcats ended the game with an impressive 20-8 run to cut the lead to eight.
      PRCC kicked off the game in grand style, taking a 10-2 lead with 16:50 left before the break when Rod Little of Moss Point hit one of his three treys on the night, but JCJC bounced back with a 10-3 scoring surge to grab a 13-12 edge at the 13:33 mark. The Bobcats ensuing 19-5 run padded their lead to 32-17 with 9:22 left before the Wildcats answered with a 16-3 scoring surge to grab a three-point lead at the half.
      Little and Donta Smith of Baskin, La. (team-high nine rebounds) paced PRCC with 22 points each; while Kendrick Washington of Utica added 16 (three treys), Johnson 13, Timothy Ware of Memphis, Tenn., 12; Reggie Fowler of Pearl River Central three, and Randy Perkins of Picayune High and Desmond Ratliff of Canton, two each.
      Besides Marshall, who boasted a perfect 10-for-10 effort at the foul line and seven-of-11 showing from three-point range, Brandon Wilson added 19, Will Poole 10, Brian Singleton nine, Justin Buxton eight, Kendrick McDonald four, Renell Collins three, and Todd McDonald 2.
      Both squads hit 50 percent from the field — Pearl River 33 of 66 and Jones 36 of 72 — while the Wildcats were nine of 21 (42.9 percent) from three-point range to the Bobcats’ 10-of-27 (37 percent) effort. At the foul line, PRCC was 17 of 29 (58.6 percent), while JCJC was 18 of 27 (66.7 percent).
      In the women’s game, the Lady Bobcats led 46-17 at the intermission, then outscored the Lady Wildcats 36-33 in the second half to take the 28-point victory.
      Monique Barnes of Prentiss High and Shondreka Lee of Hancock County paced PRCC with 11 points and five rebounds each, while Shyeeda Wynne of Lumberton High added 10, Reneka Thompson of Bassfield High eight, Brittney Bentley of Hancock County and Jonneshia Pineada of Smyrna, Ga., four each; and Courtney Lacoste of Hancock County two.
      TeAnna Carter led JCJC with a game-high 15 points, while Consuela Tucker scored 14, Dominique Evans and Brittney Leverett, 10 each; Shasta Mills eight, Demara Bolton, Nikki Graham, and Ashley Lee, six a piece; Brigit Taylor three, and Jessica Johnson and Jordyn Meranto, two each.
      Pearl River hit 30.6 percent (15 of 49) from the field to Jones County’s 52.6 percent (30 of 57) effort, while the Lady Wildcats were four of nine (44.4 percent) from three-point range to the Lady Bobcats’ seven-of-17 (41.2 percent) showing. Both teams’ foul line performances were superb, as PRCC was 16 of 20 (80 percent), while JCJC was 15 of 16 (93.8 percent).
      PRCC home Monday to host division foe Hinds at 5 p.m. (women) and 7 p.m. (men) in Shivers Gymnasium in Poplarville, then arch-rival Mississippi Gulf Coast visits Thursday at the same game times.
      The MACJC State Tournament is set for the following week (Feb. 23-26, Monday through Thursday) at the home court of the South Division men’s champion, pitting the top four women’s and men’s finishers in the North and South divisions, while the Region 23 Tournament is set for March 2-5 (Monday through Thursday) at Mississippi College in Clinton.