Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Wildcats pump winning streak to 11 straight with victory over Panthers
Pearl River women, men resume MACJC South Division action Thursday at home against Southwest Mississippi

    POPLARVILLE — Pearl River’s Wildcats extended their winning streak to 11 straight here Monday with a convincing 79-66 men’s basketball victory over New Horizon.
    The win pumped the ‘Cats overall record to 17-4, while the visiting Panthers dropped to 18-12.
    PRCC held New Horizon to only one point in the first four minutes of the contest while scoring 13, but the Panthers bounced back with a 14-10 run to cut the Wildcats’ lead to 23-15 with some nine minutes left before the intermission.
    Pearl River answered with a dominating 20-7 scoring surge over the next six minutes to grab a 21-point lead at 43-22 — its largest of the first half — before NH outscored The River 10-2 the rest of the way to trail 45-32 at the break.
    The Wildcats built their lead to as much as 25 points — 61-36 — in the first five minutes of the second half and retained a double-digit advantage the rest of the game.
    Jarrod Jones (three treys) and Reggie Lewis (four treys, six rebounds) paced the Panthers with 15 points each, while Augustin Ambrosino added 11, Nicos Norris eight, Angelo Contini six, Marcus Byrd and Adana Diouf, four each; Mickael Bopeso three, and Patrick Coleman two.
    For Pearl River, Rod Little of Moss Point led the way with a season and game-high 19 points, while Kenderek Washington of Hinds AHS scored 17 (six rebounds), Phillip Crawford of Mobile, Ala., 13 (seven rebounds); Mykael Keeler of Oak Grove eight, Desmond Ratliff of Canton six (four assists), Kegan Houston of Quitman High five, Emil Jones of North Forrest(five rebounds, five steals) and LaKendrick Maye of Prentiss High, four each; and Denzel McDaniel of Mobile, Ala., and Josh Moore of Jackson (Forest Hill High), two each.
    New Horizon was 25 of 49 (51 percent) from the field to Pearl River’s 31-of-64 (48.4 percent) effort, while the Panthers were 10 of 21 (47.6 percent) from three-point range to the Wildcats’ four of 16 (25 percent) showing. At the foul line, NH was six of 11 (54.5 percent), while PRCC was 13 of 19 (68.4 percent).
    The River dominated the boards with 41 rebounds to New Horizon’s 25, while both teams each had 18 turnovers.
    PRCC’s men and women resume MACJC South Division play Thursday when Southwest Mississippi visits for 5 p.m. (women) and 7 p.m. (men) games. The Wildcats, 7-2 in division play, are currently a half game behind first place Jones County which improved to 8-2 with Monday’s 81-65 win over Southwest. Hinds’ men, 86-65 victors over East Central Monday, is third at 6-3 followed by 5-5 Mississippi Gulf Coast, which canned Copiah-Lincoln 78-64 on Monday.
    The nationally-ranked Copiah-Lincoln women lead the South 10-0, followed by 7-3 Jones, 6-3 Southwest, and 4-6 Mississippi Gulf Coast.
    The top four men’s and women’s finishers in North and South divisions earn berths in the state tournament set for Feb. 22-25 (Monday through Thursday) at the home court of the North women’s champ.
    Following Thursday’s home match ups with Southwest, Pearl River wraps its regular season with a home date against division foe East Central (5 p.m. women, 7 p.m. men), then Co-Lin plays host in Wesson at 6 p.m. (women) and 8 p.m. (men).