Tuesday, March 02, 2010

State champ ‘Cats eyeing Region 23 Tournament
Pearl River vying for NJCAA National Tournament berth in regionals this week at Mississippi College

    POPLARVILLE — The MACJC state champion Pearl River Wildcats will be gunning for a berth in the NJCAA National Tournament set for March 16-20 in Hutchinson, Kan., as they cast their hand in the 2010 Region 23 Tournament set for Monday through Thursday in A.L. Wood Coliseum at Mississippi College in Clinton.
    Top-seeded PRCC, which defeated No. 2-seeded East Mississippi 61-58 for the state title last week in Scooba to improve to 24-4, kicks off its tournament action Tuesday at 2 p.m. against No. 8-seeded Southern-Shreveport (La.).
    The state championship marked Wildcat head coach Richard Mathis’ fifth such title since taking over the Pearl River program 19 years ago.
    The River pushed its impressive winning streak to 17 straight with the EMCC title victory, opened state tournament play with a 68-48 bashing of Holmes, then canned Itawamba, the regionals’ fifth seed, 79-71 to get to the state championship game.
    Here is a breakdown of the opening round of the men’s regional bracket:
    TUESDAY, 12:00 NOON: No. 4 Jones County versus No. 5 Itawamba.
    TUESDAY, 2:00 P.M.: No. 1 Pearl River versus No. 8 Southern-Shreveport.
    TUESDAY, 6:00 P.M.: No. 3 Delgado versus No. 6 Hinds.
    TUESDAY, 8:00 P.M.: No. 2 East Mississippi versus No. 7 Northeast Mississippi.
    The winner of the Pearl River-Southern-Shreveport game will face off with the Jones County-Itawamba winner at 6 p.m. Wednesday, while the East Mississippi-Northeast Mississippi winner faces the Delgado-Hinds winner at 8 p.m.
    The women’s first round was held Monday (game line-up, seedings unavailable).
    The men’s regional championship is set for 8 p.m. Thursday, following the women’s title game at 6 p.m.