Tuesday, February 02, 2010

Wildcats in three-way tie for first place in South after bombing Bobcats 81-64
Pearl River women fall 89-64 to Jones County

    POPLARVILLE — Pearl River’s Wildcats are in a three-way tie for first place in the MACJC South Division after bombing Jones County 81-64 in ‘Cat Fight II here Thursday.
    PRCC’s men, 14-4 overall, are now deadlocked with Jones and Hinds, which fell to Mississippi Gulf Coast 82-74 Thursday in Perkinston, in the division race with 5-2 marks.
    Nineteenth-year Wildcat head coach Richard Mathis was pleased with his team’s effort.
    “We played pretty well,” he said. “We played physical and rebounded well, but the exception was our paltry effort at the foul line (17 of 34). We may the worst free throw shooting team in the league.“
    The Wildcats, who fell to the Bobcats 86-83 in both teams’ division openers Dec. 3 in Ellisville, never trailed in the game and led by as many as 16 points late in the first half.
    JCJC’s Nic Combs hit his only three pointer of the night at the 10:30 mark of the first half to cut The River’s lead to 19-15, but the Wildcats answered with an impressive 18-6 scoring run to build its lead to 37-21 at the 2:52 mark. JCJC outscored PRCC 6-4 in the final two minutes to cut the Wildcats’ lead to 41-27 at the break.
    Pearl River grabbed its largest lead of the game (17 points) just over five minutes into the second half when Zach Vickers of Laurel Hill, Fla., hit a basket to make it 49-32 at the 14:42 mark.
    The Wildcats maintained a double-digit advantage the rest of the way.
    Jones County was 20 of 72 (27.8 percent) from the field to Pearl River’s 31-of-61 (50.8 percent) effort, while both squad were 18.2 percent from three-point range with the Bobcats sank four of 22 and the Wildcats two of 11. At the free throw line, JCJC was 20 of 30 (66.7 percent), while PRCC hit 50 percent
    The River dominated the boards with 57 rebounds to Jones’ 38, but were victimized by 24 turnovers to the Bobcats’ 10.
    Brandon Wilson led the way for JCJC with 17 points, while Combs added 12, Kadeem Fleming 11, Kenrick McDonald six, Torrey Brown five, Todd McDonald four (eight rebounds), Glen Collins and Tiaj Kelly, three each; Devin Brown two, and Tyrone Brinson one.
    Josh Moore of Jackson (Forest Hill High) paced the Wildcats with 16 points, while Emil Jones of North Forrest pulled off his first double-double of the season with 15 points and a game and career-high 14 rebounds. Kenderek Washington of Hinds AHS scored 12 (eight rebounds), Vickers 10 (nine rebounds), Phillip Crawford of Mobile, Ala., eight; Mykael Keeler of Oak Grove seven, Rod Little of Moss Point six, Denzel McDaniel of Mobile, Ala., five; and Desmond Ratliff of Canton two.
    In women’s action, Pearl River led for the first six minutes of the contest before Brigit Taylor’s bucket knotted things at 9-9, then Erica Moore’s basket off a turnover a minute late snapped the stalemate.
    The Lady Bobcats never looked back. Moore’s goal kicked off an impressive 18-5 scoring run that built JCJC’s lead to 15 points — 29-14 — with 5:10 left in the half, but the Lady Wildcats showed resiliency, answering with an equally-impressive 13-4 scoring surge over the next four minutes to cut Jones County’s lead to 27-33 at the 1:10 mark.
    JCJC led 38-29 at the intermission.
    In the second half, the Lady Bobcats outscored the Lady Wildcats 51-35 building their lead to as many as 28 points in the final two minutes.
    Jones was 31 of 64 (48.4 percent) from the field to Pearl River’s 19-of-53 (35.8 percent) effort, while the Lady Bobcats were six of 14 (42.9 percent) from three-point range to the Lady Wildcats’ nine-of-19 (47.4 percent) showing. At the foul line, JCJC was 21 of 29 (72.4 percent), while PRCC was 17 of 26 (65.4 percent).
    Jones County out-rebounded Pearl River 38-29, while the Lady Wildcats were victimized by 24 turnovers to the Lady Bobcats’ 16.
    Tanecka Carey paced JCJC with a game-high 28 points (three steals), including six three-pointers; while Dominque Evans added 11, Moore (seven rebounds, four steals) and Taylor, 10 each; Kiana Harris nine, Ashley Lee and Crystal Tucker, six each; Candace Little five, and Jessica McCann and Kerri Simmons, two each.
    For The River, Kenyatta Epps of Yazoo City scored 24 (five treys, six rebounds), Charlene Green of South Pike and Brittany Weathers of Oak Grove (five rebounds), eight each; Nicole Holder of Lumberton High (three steals) and Shandell Peters of East Marion, seven each; Sam Fairley of Hattiesburg High six (six rebounds), and Courtney Lacoste of Hancock County two.
    The Lady Wildcats fell to the Lady Bobcats 69-56 in their earlier meeting in Ellisville.
    PRCC eyes back-to-back division road foes starting Monday with a trip to Hinds in Utica, then heads to Mississippi Gulf Coast in Perkinston Thursday. Both dates eye 6 p.m. (women) and 8 p.m. (men) tip offs.